Results tagged “Shawn arnold” from Drama Queen

The KCACTF2 OCI critics, on very, very little sleep, focused the last of their remaining energies on a previous review, crossed their fingers and hit "send." I'm reading through these all day and announcing a winner at IUP tonight, on this blog tomorrow. Over 2,000 visitors read the students' work online this week and I hope some of you will offer your choice for a winner and alternate. The winner gets to attend the national Kennedy Center event this spring, and if their work wins against the top critics in every other region, they get an all-expenses-paid trip to the Eugene O'Neill Critics Institute this summer.

These reviews represent the range of shows the students saw here in a whirlwind three days--seven productions in all. But they also represent a massive amount of hard work. Check our Twitter list to peek in on some of our wee-hour conversations; check below to see the fruits of all that late-night labor.

Shot!

Shawn Arnold

How can
a just society operate when violence is the only means of communication?TempleUniversitystrives to examine this question in
their new drama set in turbulent North Philadelphia (known as "Beirut").Shot!explores how violence can be
prevented and a caring community reestablished.

Kimmika
Williams-Witherspoon's play is a grab-bag of material examining the violent
culture of northern Philly. Including poems, rap, videos, and interviews, it
creates a night of experimental, innovative theatre that pushes its edgy voice
through vignettes.Gangstersvs. warriors, young mothers, the
police, education, alcohol and drugs, and the homeless share a Zen-like balance
topically. The play's core, however, contains a wealth of interviews that paint
a rich image of the real people of Beirut.

The citizens
of North Philadelphia are genuinely brought to
life through the ensemble. To create this sense of specificity, director
Douglas Wager emphasized the importance of the interviews. Not merely become
other human beings, the cast conducts their dialog as ifanswering interview questions. The
importance of every little "um" or "ah" is clear. By focusing on the actual
community of Beirut,
Wager has successfully transported them on stage.

Williams-Witherspoon
literally employs her own narrative voice in the piece to mixed results. In
some occasions her poetry vividly encapsulates the moment. Her valorous verse
on the difference between a gangster and a warrior provides a stirring example
on how to fight for one's cause when, "many are dying, few people are trying."
Other times, sadly, her meter becomes overwhelming. While riffing about young
women with babies, Williams-Witherspoon slides into a series of clichés: "non-
existent sugar daddies" and "children with children."

Jessica
Wallace's visually stunning lighting design inspires awe with its bold color
choices and stark images. Ron Ron, an up and coming rapper, is at the end of
his rope. Pointing a gun at himself, he says, "click." Abruptly the lights cut
to black, and as he lay dying, a screen of crimson floods the backdrop.

A desolate wasteland, Kyle Melton's set design reflects North Philly's poverty.
The choice to use three simplistic, worn stoops and doorways, however, also
fosters a sense of community within the play in scenes such as when the elderly
generation is reminiscing of the old days.

Shot! --with its multiple performance
levels - takes a look at the raw life of North
Philadelphia. In the words of Williams-Witherspoon, many youths
are, "killing each other over garbage." The play presents many ways this
violence can be combated. Perhaps by raising the price of bullets. Perhaps more
measures to inform the community. Perhaps if more Americans stand up to the
racial intolerance that is blatantly still present. There still is a shotat hope, "We need more love,
we need more understanding."

Home

Amy Asendorf

Forget a click of the heels and
a wave of the wand; there's a new homecoming vehicle on the rise, and this one
requires no ruby-studded mantras. ArcadiaUniversity's production
of Samm-Art Williams' Home rekindles
the human faith in a promised land, proving that the long-awaited fields of
green are not a destination, but a discovery.

Home first premiered in 1979 as a production of the Negro Ensemble
Company (NEC), whosemission of
developing plays by African-American writers achieved instantaneous acclaim. Home proceeded to earn a Tony nomination
for Best Play in 1981. As the 70's were wrought with African-American political
defiance sparked by stagnant Civil Rights efforts, the piece was eschewed by
the Black radical movement, yet otherwise enjoyed widespread fame. Praise for
this play has not since dwindled, and in the past couple years America has
witnessed its resurfacing popularity.

The stubborn soul-aching by
Jamal Douglas' farmer Cephus Miles erected the possibility for a man to be devoid
of religion, yet rich in faith. The devil himself must have been summoned as Douglas flirted with the memory of his Sunday dice games
in the graveyard with an expression of youthful disobedience and limberly slunk
to ignite the sparks of affection in his love, Pattie Mae (Briana
Pope-McBride). But even amidst these games, Douglas
humbly deflated his pocket of self-worth as he crouched to raise odes for the
crickets and birds above those for himself.

Two female muses, Pope-McBride
and Taysha Canales as Woman Two, glorified the soulful direction of Mark Wade
with explosive guardian-angel-on-the-shoulder flashbacks to the human blessings
along Cephus' quest for home. Somehow, despite Cephus' stabs at God's vacation
to Miami (leaving him helpless and forlorn) and the slurred syllables with
which the women's damning judgments were delivered as he drank and gambled,
Cephus continued to keep the faith kite aloft through God's gracious gift of
perseverance. Together as ensemble, the trio balanced the duality of belting
lyrical poetry and hip-jiving to jazzy reader's theater.

Unfortunately, the lighting by
Robin Stamey detracted from the storyline toward the beginning of the piece
with completely unwarranted transitions between artistic visions: imagine a friend
detailing a lengthy dream while shifting seats every thirty seconds, and a
similar effect is attained.

Arcadia's set, designed by Chris J. Kleckner,
centered on a ramshackle rancher resembling a deck of cards in need of a good
shuffling. Angled wedge platforms and wooden crates were so versatile that they
at once fostered a downtown bar and a Sunday school classroom. Most pivotal to
the play's theme, however, was the looming telephone pole and wire that boldly
convened to form a cross. Evidently, God had not slipped away to Miami after all.

With the recent inauguration of
President Obama, the promises of the Civil Rights movement for which the NEC
sought have been fulfilled at last. In effect, Home has again surged in popularity, testifying to the power of
faith among all people to reclaim a home that was always theirs from the start.

Shot!

Nicholas Barilar

On the steps before a green
door of a ghetto home sit photos, stuffed animals, and lit candles as part of a
public display of love and mourning. Around the steps, people are
gathered:some hold each other, some
stare in bewilderment.At the top of the
steps stands a young man - arms folded and eyes closed. A mother weeps and as
she cries a cascade of crimson envelops the proceedings.With a sudden pivot of the head, the mourners
spit a single word that rips through the heart with the cold burn of an
icicle:Shot!

TempleUniversity's
production consists of Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon's poetry combined with
verbatim interviews of the characters presented.The first act introduces a brief history of Philadelphia's violent
street history and segues into stories concerning the demons of their homes -
poverty, drugs, "babies with babies," etc.Finally, it calls for change.

Williams-Witherspoon also leads
the ensemble in the show.Her play
presents a gift to the world and an effective motivator; however, her poetic
presence on stage conveys the classic strutting with pride saloon-cowboy rather
than a voice of hope for the people.

While some of this poetic
dialogue might be effective, such as discussing how men leave their girls with
little more than a tattoo upon their breasts, much of it is unnecessary, such
as the long speech about the difference between a warrior and a gangster -
something that is not brought up for the rest of the play. If cuts could be
made, the slightly dragging two-act could be consolidated into a single sitting
of a clearer and quicker moving play.

The acting of the ensemble
might be more genuine than Williams-Witherspoon, but it is the fact that they
are students that make them so effective - within their age group the play most
pushes for a radical change. During a section entitled "Anatomy of a Bullet"
the students portray doctors and describe the horrific surgical procedure to
treating a bullet wound with the similar effect of an Iraqi Muslim describing
the waterboarding process - instilling a moment of awkward discomfort that
twists the stomach.

Director Douglas C. Wager
employs excellent use of his lights, designed by Jessica Wallace, bringing
sharp color changes about quickly. A foreboding red lingers, a gunshot rings
out with a blinding white light and fades to a now bloody red.

The simple set, by Kyle Melton,
consists of a stage-length long platform upon which stand three different doors
with stoops leading to the floor of the stage - illustrating the broken
displacement and near ruination of home in this war-torn neighborhood - in
addition to telephone cords that run above with a pair of shoes flung over the
cord.

At its heart, Shot! calls for change to a city plagued
by violence, drugs, homelessness, and other evils. One of the doctors says,
"Once it becomes alright you become a part of the problem." Shot! demands that "alright" not come
for those that are lucky enough to witness the play.

A Year with Frog and Toad

Robby Bassler

Wake up!Come on, hibernation is over!No it doesn't matter what your age is,
because Willie Reale's adaptation of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series titled
A Year With Frog and Toad presented
by Indiana University of Pennsylvania transports both young and old on an
adventure as large as your wildest imaginations.

A waterfall of shrill trumpets,
finger-snapping bass riffs, and bells that turn into swirling leaves (Musical
direction by Tom Octave) propel director Rob Greta's paint by imagination
environment.Frog and Toad (Sean Barrett
and Joe York) pop out of two oversized matchbox beds, with a puddle-splashing
ode about meeting in each other's dreams during hibernation.Despite awkward pauses before, during, and
after various critters' swan songs, playful singing voices lure even the most lethargic
slugs to frolic about in a pool of catchy musical slime.

Frog and Toad outshine
expectations from the most dedicated toad-toting toddler or teen.Set and costume designer Dan Iwaniec flies
the enormous children's book cover that starts and ends the show into the sky
to clear a path for Frog and Toad.Wise,
dry-humored Frog chuckles to himself as his best pal Toad runs with the
staggering gate of Chris Farley across the stage and up into the audience,
trying as hard as he can to fly his big red kite.

As Toad as Frog's unique friendship
takes flight, Frog accepts Toad's quirks as Frog squeezes the murky lake water
out of the spongy sandwiches that Toad used as a floatation device.Iwaniec dresses this loveable, laughable Toad
in a Dr. Seuss-like polka-dotted bathing suit equipped with 1920's swimmer cap.
Doo-wop birds change scenery in costumes
with lace wings and a feather hat to guide the silly pair of amphibians in
discoveries comparable to entering a new room of Willy Wonka's Charlie Factory.

No matter how great, a journey is
not complete without its obstacles.Woodland
creatures squint hard at their poorly lit path guided by spotlights meandering
around stage like lightning bugs.Brown
blobs topped with a light bulb (supposedly moles) scurry around stage, content
with digging small holes to temporarily trap adventurers.The letter-toting mail-snail crawls onstage
with enjoyable dialogue, but often delays Frog and Toad with her lackadaisical
comedic timing.

Toad and Frog's platonic
book-ending in which they summarize the action of the entire show patronizes
adults and children but stands out as an exception for the play as a whole.Throughout the rest of the adventure, jokes
about birds getting the flu and cookbooks titled Betty Croaker raises
expectations for all children's theatre. So for all those parents that would rather be
hibernating, use your children as an excuse to lick this toad and ride out the multi-colored
shockwave of fun.

Shot!

Michael Cook

Guns, teen pregnancy, and drugs. Is that the latest
news report on what is destroying our nation? Shot! is a
'docu-drama' performed by TempleUniversity which addresses this matter in regards to
the North Philadelphia neighborhood known as Beirut. This play had an unconventional
genesis which helped shape it into a unique production: Eugene Martin, Kimmika
Williams-Witherspoon, and Douglas C. Wager are all credited with conceiving the
show.

Shot was created through
interviews and videos shot of several residents of Beirut by residents. This neighborhood
is located very close to TempleUniversity's campus which
allowed for a lot of interaction between the production and residents.

The play explored how a neighborhood
descended into the place it now is, and leaves audiences with a sense of
community and a wish to get closer to their neighbors and look after each
other. To say that this is the work of a playwright is to spit in the faces of
the many people who were interviewed, and the actors who then recreated those
interviews in a brilliant naturalistic manner. While it was somewhat
'controversial' that 'multimedia' was used in this performance, it was used in
a manner like some theatre practioners as early as the early 20th century
did. 'Controversial' in the manner that every technological innovation to
theatre is met with initial resistance and several theatre practioners are
adamantly against it. The 'multimedia' aspects of t he show were very
well done and always seemed to re-enforce what was going on in the play.

The actors played many
different characters, and aside from the professor who helped write the
play(Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon) it
is difficult to put names and faces together, which helped solidify the fact
that these events could happen anywhere and aren't specific to North
Philadelphia. Characters were recreations of actual people which created
an element of reality of the show.

The play was also complemented
by a minimalist set by Kyle Melton. The set used very little to establish
the front porches of three houses in a neighborhood, but it worked out quite
nicely. There were three doors and three sets of stairs leading up to a
slightly higher platform.

All of these elements helped
contribute to the idea that this just isn't about North Philadelphia, I
personally am from rural Northwest Ohio so a
lot of the play was lost to me. However, some of the play was so universal that
I didn't have to be from Philadelphia
to grasp what was going on with the play to fully understand it and feel for
the characters.

This was the first production
of this play at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (it has
made script changes since it's debut) and it is safe to say that this is not
the last time this show will be seen by anyone.

Shot!

Mark Costello

Please, Douglas C. Wager: it's
time to upgrade to a better toolbox.

The director of 2007's In Conflict has returned to the banality
of mass media talking points to harness yet another American tragedy: the
poverty and crime of North Philadelphia. TempleUniversity's
Shot! is In Conflict moved from Afghanistan
and Iraq
to Broad and Diamond. Soldiers' blank verse has become citizens' Def Jam slam
poetry. Men and women crippled by careless government still die stagnant
deaths.

The crimson projections and
lackluster tableaux of In Conflict
are two more albatrosses that have clung to Wager's neck as he developed the mise en scene for Shot! Again, we see the entire cast repeatedly lined up, left to
right, facing the audience in confrontation. Blood and figurative (or real)
explosions abound in both works and sadly, both are as intriguing as a
conversation overheard on the C-bus.

This piece's failure comes from
Wager's reliance upon a parasitic art form. Docudrama culls together snippets
of interviews, histories, and newspaper articles to create a script from which
drama is supposed to magically arise. In many instances, such as In Conflict or Robbins' Dead Man Walking, these works are about
as engaging as a staged scrapbook.

Much of the first and the
entirety of the second act drag accordingly. Protean actors wander back and
forth, up and down, speaking the words of real North
Philadelphians. Wager's staging has men and women face downstage
while singing the horrors of malt liquor, treating a serious problem for the
African-American community like a hokey after-school special with an easy
moral. The candor of the actors' voices takes on a lightness that betrays their
would-be pain.

Thankfully, the production manages
to rise under the power of Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon's writing and
performance. Decked in loose corn-rows and an understated black pant-suit,
Williams-Witherspoon commands awed silence with the practiced stride of a
feared schoolmarm. When she screams: "No one can lift themselves up by their
bootstraps!" the room erupts, and in that moment she could sell hot coal in
hell. Her poetic testament can knock down the giants who keep her town starved
in their shadows while raising her neighbors to the status of supermen.

The production is at its
strongest when Wager departs widely from the work he's done before. Kyle
Melton's inspired three stoop set transforms slowly into a roadside altar in memoriam of a boy slain by
circumstance; the boy's mother collapses on it, wailing, sorrow hanging thick
in the air like Philadelphia
humidity. Would that this passion were the norm, but sadly, the play is far
more concerned with telling us about
the hell these characters live through. Rarely does it let us see.

Shot! loses its deeply felt message in Wager's inability to make
art of reality. As it is, his unwillingness to trade in his old bag of tricks
makes for a stale piece, sometimes melodramatic, rarely awe-inspiring, without
much to brag about outside of Williams-Witherspoon's magic.

Please, Mr. Wager: revamp your
toolbox.

A Year with Frog and Toad

Connor Davis

"Crisp, but not overly brittle,
just a scintilla of spice, and cunningly soft in the middle." Claims the
delightful Frog as he relishes a fresh cookie from his pal Toad. Coincidentally,
Frog is also describing Indiana
UniversityPennsylvania's
production ofA Year with Frog and Toad.
Based on the classic children books byArnold Lobel, this cheery musical chronicle
the events of two best friends through one year. Warmly
acted and agreeably sung, this production was as tasty and enjoyable as the
first bite of a chocolate-chip cookie right out of the oven.

Under the delicate and careful
direction of Rob Gretta, the small ensemble remains true to the script and does
not favor an adult or children's audience. WithRobert Reale's score,
which ranges from brisk jazzy melodies to breezy country tunes, andWillie Reale's witty
libretto this production neither plays down to a child nor flashes a wink to an
adult.

At the center of this production
were a charming and playful Sean Barret as Frog and the sincere and sometimes
doleful Joe York as Toad. Both embodied their characters fully, keeping the
audience engaged through inside jokes, and amusing sight gags. Take a look at
Toad's outrageous swimsuit, and Mr. Barret's amusing leaps onto his companion's
shoulders. The ensemble works hard, and seamlessly with the audience to tell a
warm story of friendship and devotion.

Brandon Beale & Anthony
Lombardi's lighting design does a fine job in using bright yellows, and cool
blues to depict the various seasons. However, their use of follow spots is
questionable. The spotlights washed out the actors' faces, and took away from
the rich colors thety created for the atmosphere. Shockingly, there were moments
when actors could not find their light, and could not be seen by the audience.
It was the one area of this production that appeared burnt and overcooked.

Charming costumes by Dan
Iwaniec provided depth to characters, with bright colors and vibrant patterns
that leap off of the stage like a children'spop-up book. Carefully and expertly detailed,
such as Frog's sharp striped suit, with green leggings, and Toad's polka dotted
suit, complete with converse
sneakers. The costumes provided another layer for actors to dig
deeper into their amphibian characters.

Zipping along at a quick 90
minutes, this delightful musical comedy reminds audience members that simple is
better. Many contemporary musicals today try and boast flashy technical
elements to wow the audience over, yet contain hollow librettos and scores that
are consistently unmemorable. It is refreshing to spend time with an airy piece
of theater that plays homage to the good old days of musical theater when
artistic integrity trumps financial success.A Year with Frog and Toadis
deliciously consumed from first bite to last and profoundly memorable long
after it has been fully digested.

Home

Valerie Gibbs

Worn wood, chipped paint, and a
sunken porch might not sound much like home, but hasn't it been said that "home
is where the heart is?" Well, heart is definitely found in ArcadiaUniversity's
Home, by Samm-Art Williams. This
classic, performed on Broadway back in 1980, has been brought back to life by
director Mark Wade who inspires three actors to make the lives and stories of
over 25 characters beat as one. As the program states, Home, a story originally created for an audience dealing with the
effects of the Civil Rights movement and in the midst of the Vietnam War, is "a
stirring portrait of what it means to embrace the future while honoring the
legacies of the past."

Young African American Cephus
Miles struggles to find himself during the racial crossroads in American
history. He was born to be a farmer, but soon hears the echoing call of the
city to hop on the subway and experience the high life. Actor Jamal Douglas
portrays Cephus with conviction and authentic passion and holds nothing back. Douglas has an amazing understanding and awareness of his
body and uses it to emphasize his every word. When Cephus falls to alcoholism
in the city and comes to the realization that he has lost everything he has
ever known, he collapses to the ground and emits one scream containing all the
elements of anger, pain, frustration, regret, and more.

Supporting cast members Briana
Pope-McBride and Taysha Canales also let the emotions of the text stir them to
dancing, shouting, whispering, running around in a fury, or standing still
staring off into space. Both speak with their entire body, not just their mouths. Emotion is not solely heard in
their voices; it is freely personified for all to see.The show's heartbeat never slows, and music,
dancing, singing, and poetic language fill the stage with an immense fever that
cannot be ignored.

The set is comprised of a small
deteriorating farmhouse center stage and two angled platforms on either side,
often transformed into various locations such as a bar or Sunday school
classroom. The openness provides a blank canvas for hues of emotion to shine
through. Lighting designer Robin Stamey captures the essence of every moment
presented on stage. The moment Cephus' friend is killed in Vietnam, the
screen burns a crimson red and a single white light beams on the cross-like
telephone pole in Cephus's yard. This visual pierces the heart and humbles the
soul.

Today's audience is much
different than the one Williams wrote for, but Home still relates to people today. Every individual goes through a
time of self-discovery.Many experience
a love like Cephus and Pattie Mae, the struggle between desire and duty, and
often wonder if God has "taken a vacation to Miami" in order to get away for awhile.But in the end, this show proves that as long
as we remain true to ourselves, we will find ourselves at home - no matter
where that might be.

Increased Difficulty of Concentration

Peter Starr Northrop

1. At the center of
a quiet den Dr. Huml stands rigid in terror. He is completely surrounded by a
mad swirl of people and unavoidable questions while lights pop and flash all
around him. For the first time in his life, Huml has lost control. Yes, MuhlenbergCollege's production The Increased Difficulty of Concentration by
Vaclav Havel has pinpointed the craziness that comes from simply knowing people so exactly that it
actually gets frightening. This is a show that--in typical absurdist
fashion--pokes fun at man's need for understanding and his quest to make
everything into a science, rather than letting natural things be natural.

6. In crafting this
play, Havel essentially took the concept of
time and smashed it.Scene changes are
abrupt and rarely in chronological order. Audience members all around me gave
bewildered groans as they tried to follow the maddeningly frenzied pace Havel's time shifts created. But, if you manage to keep
up with this review, then you'll do fine with Havel's
script.

3. The set consisted
of a semicircle of four enormous column-like doors looming over a quiet living
room. From the start, the doors givethe
impression that they will become a threat to the serenity of this place. The
walls are all painted olive green, a shade that completely matches Julie
Henegan's costumes.

2. A product of the
late 1960s during the Soviet Union's iron reign over the Czechoslovakia,
Vaclav Havel was completely against the exasperating communist bureaucracy that
gripped his country. His plays usually make great fun the attempt to make a
science out of everything. Havel's victim in
this show? Sociology!

5. And in his
costume, Joe Feilding plays a marvelous Huml. He is earthy and smooth like pipe
smoke. He can put any situation to ease--especially when both his wife and the
woman with whom he is having an affair interrogate him in separate scenes.They both ask desperate him questions to see
if he is ready to leave the other. But, Fielding deflects their inquiries with
incredible ease.

4. In this case,
Huml's costumes are an olive green suit and a plaid creamsicle set of pajamas.
These complement the set's color and give the firm notion that this is Huml's space.

7.Vanessa Lancellotti's direction takes this
crazy time scheme and brings order to it. From matching set and costume designs
to casting Huml's two love interests so they look alike, Lancellotti weaves
together all these chaotic elements so anyone can be guided through the
pandemonium.

8. The show focuses around
Huml's encounter with a set of fellow social scientists and their quest to make
a scientific formula for the interactions of man. After the madhouse climax
where everything goes wrong for the scientists, Huml completely loses control
of his life for just an instant. Afterwards, Huml finally understands where
he's gone wrong and the point of the show becomes clear. "The fundamental key
to man does not lie in his brain, but in his heart."

Love@1stPlight

Nathan Taylor

Click.The buckle opened as
I pushed inward on the release.The
straps swung slowly, back and forth, almost pleading with me not to go through
with it.Ignoring their appeal, I put my
hands to my head and took a deep breath before yanking off my thinking
cap.It was the only way to even
remotely enjoy W&J Student Theatre Company's original play Love @ 1st Plight.

Imagine an episode of Family Guy for a basic understanding of
the jests writer Drew Aloe uses; lines like "holy cow on a hamburger" sacrifice
pacing for humor, resulting in a Möbius
strip of predictable clichés.Tiresome
jokes assist in unraveling the script; in ninety minutes, main character Spools
(David Doom) manages to repeat his name more times than Bob Dole has in an
entire lifetime.No help is received
from director T.S. Frank, who endorses a hamfisted style of acting.

Mate the voices of Harvey
Fierstein and Scooby Doo with the comedic talent of Carlos Mencia, and out pops
Doom's portrayal of Spools.The
character is tricky; with lines like "Bullshit! From his ass!" and "Let's hug it
out bitch," it's little wonder Doom trips over this complicated role.Yelling every line, he presumably researched
his part at an elementary school recess.

Roommate Rich (Johnny Galli) is
more of an unabridged collection of Shakespeare's works than an actual
character.Galli delivers his lines with
all the wooden acting ability of Keanu Reeves.There's no chemistry between him and Doom, but it's hardly a surprise
watching him ineptly serve his lines to the audience instead of his partner.

Not all performances are as
threadbare - understudy Sophia Tsiris's Daisy demonstrates potential despite
the figurative manhandling she receives attempting to flirt with Doom.And ironically enough, the foreseeable plot
allows Dent Holden's cameo Phil to produce the most massive laugh.Expecting Daisy underneath a mask, the
prancing, southern accented Denton
bursts free in a welcome divergence from the stagnant plot.Busily hitting himself with a program for
most of the play, the guy in front of me stopped long enough to shout out "It's
Phil!" when Holden saved the play for yet a second time.

Enough praise, the crowd
demands more blood!Dan Shaw's set
design is a sloppy mess of ideas, unpolished and uninspired.Such clutter is absent from the dorm room
that includes nothing more than two beds and a desk.Stylistically, the only item missing is a
John Belushi poster.The door to said
room was set in the middle of a large, white, sparkly fairytale castle.Why is still a mystery; I'll wish upon a star
and get back to you.

With all the wit available at a
college party, Love @ 1st
Plight would have been much more satisfying with a beer in hand.

Home

Jensen Toperzer

Rhythm and motion - this is
what defines Arcadia University's production of Samm-Art Williams' Home,
a show that in almost every aspect, a production that stands out as a true gem
amidst the shows presented at this year's Kennedy Center American College
Theater Festival.

The script itself would feel
clichéd if not for the cadence of Samm-Art's dialogue, evocative of the works
of Langston Hughes or Ntozake Shange.
Taysha Marie Canales' character, listed only as 'Woman Two', shows this in the
lines of a speech about going to the city - 'Take it to the city', she says,
and in her words we can hear the rumble of trains and the flow of people, the
skyscrapers towering overhead.

Even more than in their voices,
the actors' mastery of their own bodies is nearly perfect. James Douglas' lithe
movements are each well thought out, not a single one wasted as he conjures vignettes,
stories, and locations from Cephus' life. For example, when he tells the story
of the "Black Indian" he leans on his porch to speak to the (not physically
present) man, then stands up bolt straight with his arms close to his body to
mimic and parody the deluded fake-Indian before shifting back to his own
confidant yet relaxed posture. Everything seems planned, from the confidant and
sly way he moves as a young man to the subtle tremors in his hands as a shoe
shiner in the twisted canyons of New York
City. These careful considerations of movement, beat,
and voice combine to take a script which can be boiled down to a story about
finding oneself and coming home to spectacular heights.

Robin Stamey's lighting is
almost as much of a character as the actors. Though some cues are slightly
mis-timed and on occasion the actors are left in shadow, it is clear that this
is a problem of the space and short amount of time to put on the show, not the
show itself. The warm, almost buttery tones used to recall Crossroads, North Carolina,
emphasizing the warm memories and feelings that Cephus has of the area. Violet
light is used when Cephus first travels to New York, showing how foreign and exotic it
appears to the country-born Cephus, before it changes to a chill ice blue,
paralleling the alienation and neglect Cephus later experiences in the city.
Violent red light calls to mind the war in Vietnam, while sickly green shows
the malady of spirit that Cephus feels during his wrongful imprisonment for
draft dodging.

There are some questions about
the possible relevance of the play to modern audiences - originally produced in
the late 70's, the play speaks on issues concerning Vietnam and black
rights.Yet the themes addressed seem just as relevant to the modern day: Cephus'
treatment as a man who 'spits on the flag' after he refuses to fight in the war
for religious reasons is especially relevant considering the pervasive
conservative attitude towards objectors to the war in Iraq during the last
decade.

Rhythm and motion - this is
what defines Arcadia University's production of Samm-Art Williams' Home,
a show that in almost every aspect, a production that stands out as a true gem
amidst the shows presented at this year's Kennedy Center American College
Theater Festival.

The script itself would feel
clichéd if not for the cadence of Samm-Art's dialogue, evocative of the works
of Langston Hughes or Ntozake Shange.
Taysha Marie Canales' character, listed only as 'Woman Two', shows this in the
lines of a speech about going to the city - 'Take it to the city', she says,
and in her words we can hear the rumble of trains and the flow of people, the
skyscrapers towering overhead.

Even more than in their voices,
the actors' mastery of their own bodies is nearly perfect. James Douglas' lithe
movements are each well thought out, not a single one wasted as he conjures
vignettes, stories, and locations from Cephus' life. For example, when he tells
the story of the "Black Indian" he leans on his porch to speak to the (not
physically present) man, then stands up bolt straight with his arms close to
his body to mimic and parody the deluded fake-Indian before shifting back to
his own confidant yet relaxed posture. Everything seems planned, from the
confidant and sly way he moves as a young man to the subtle tremors in his
hands as a shoe shiner in the twisted canyons of New York City. These careful considerations
of movement, beat, and voice combine to take a script which can be boiled down
to a story about finding oneself and coming home to spectacular heights.

Robin Stamey's lighting is
almost as much of a character as the actors. Though some cues are slightly
mis-timed and on occasion the actors are left in shadow, it is clear that this
is a problem of the space and short amount of time to put on the show, not the
show itself. The warm, almost buttery tones used to recall Crossroads, North Carolina,
emphasizing the warm memories and feelings that Cephus has of the area. Violet
light is used when Cephus first travels to New York, showing how foreign and exotic it
appears to the country-born Cephus, before it changes to a chill ice blue,
paralleling the alienation and neglect Cephus later experiences in the city.
Violent red light calls to mind the war in Vietnam, while sickly green shows
the malady of spirit that Cephus feels during his wrongful imprisonment for
draft dodging.

There are some questions about
the possible relevance of the play to modern audiences - originally produced in
the late 70's, the play speaks on issues concerning Vietnam and black rights. Yet the
themes addressed seem just as relevant to the modern day: Cephus' treatment as
a man who 'spits on the flag' after he refuses to fight in the war for
religious reasons is especially relevant considering the pervasive conservative
attitude towards objectors to the war in Iraq during the last decade.

A Comb and a Prayer Book

Kelly Wetherald

Awareness of theHolocaustis an
event that individuals cannot avoid for we are educationally bombarded with
images and horrific details in American history classes nationwide. Modern
society knows this. But what about "genocide in Darfur,Rwanda,
orYugoslavia"? What
about those people and their suffering? StocktonCollege'sA
Comb and A Prayer Booksimply did a disservice to all
remaining survivors; Holocaust or otherwise. Elizabeth
Blum Goldstein's story should be cherished and remembered for centuries to
come, but this production should be removed from the theatrical circuit.

A Comb and a Prayer Book: A
Survivor's Story's central theme struggled. Was
the vision to tell one person's history or to heighten awareness of genocide
and humanistic cruelty? The play had an unclear objective and
static storyline which in turn made the performance boring and unbearably
annoying. The
production was just another attempt to do justice to a riveting memoir that
turned out to be an epic failure on stage.

I cannot blame the painful
performance solely on the actors at StocktonCollege, but I can
however place direct blame on director Pamela R. Hendrick. In
her own words, "scripts that attempt a realistic representation of the
Holocaust are problematic because such an extreme event is impossible to
recreate realistically in live performance". I
wish that she actually took some of her own advice. Anne Frankfor
example could convey an authentic sense of history in her memoirs and on
stage. A
Comb and a Prayer Bookhowever could not.

Hendrick also chose to
incorporatechamber theatre techniqueswhile
directing. This
technique includes using as much original text as possible while telling the
story through a couple main characters. Unfortunately,LaurenSuprenant
playing Shana Fogerty delivered unmotivated monologues with a monotone
voice. It
is hard to believe that such vivid textual images such as "barren bed chambers",
"saturated piss stains", and "starvation to the point of eating worms" could
still come across so bland. The lack of ensemble interaction
and clear disconnect to the story only added to the antsy atmosphere felt in
the theater.

One positive aspect of this
productionA
Comb and a Prayer Bookwas the technical lighting and set design. Varied
lighting angles and color helped create a somber, death stricken mood that the
actors themselves couldn't naturally create. The
lighting provided depth, a sense of time and helped to make the minimalistic
set spring to life. Metal scaffolding, ominous hanging
lights and block platforms blended into the background yet also chilled the
tone of the piece. The basic set design allowed for
imagination to drive visual images.

The high hopes that I had for
this production after their nomination to KCACTF were shattered within twenty
minutes. I
found myself longing for the end or at least for the nonexistent intermission
to take a break from the monotonous one dimensional narration.

Today's assignment is a quick hit: write just the lede for a review of Keuka College's production of Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon. Seems simple enough, one opening paragraph, done and done. Well, it's not. Here's the thing: several of the O'Neill Critics Institute students wrote what Michael Phillips--when he taught my NEA critics' class--called an "iris shot" lede. It's the specific moment in a production that illustrates exactly why you loved or hated the production, or maybe highlights the production's goals and shows how the team succeeded or failed. Plus, since it's just a lede, that paragraph needs to be a megawatt beacon that illuminates the path to your eventual (and in this case, imaginary) conclusion.

So go on and tell us: which lede/s makes you want to keep reading, and why.

Shawn
Arnold

"Oh
no, not again." The room spins. A woman on a chair writhes and contorts. She
grips the seat, but it is no use. Falling with a thud, she flops about as a
white vortex opens behind her.Snap! All suddenly goes black. The woman opens her eyes in
a nursery and discovers she is now A BABY! This is but one of the many
reincarnations ofMiss Witherspoon. InChristopher Durang's absurdly funny play,KeukaCollegepresents a fable--with a few
stumbles--that will keep the audience asking, "WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?!"

Amy
Asendorf

Tip:
When searching for a personal sense of fulfillment, it is wise tobegin with a healthy dose of
suicide. Go right ahead! Run intooncoming
traffic, overdose, invite the dog to nibble on yourflesh. Any method will suffice!Christopher
Durang's MissWitherspoon,as
performed byKeukaCollege,offers a surprisingly comicaltake on the perpetual conflict consuming every
down-and-outexistentialist. Though thejourney to happiness may be long, even the hopeless
can restassured events are cosmically
ordained to bringmeaning to life. However,
with this production, thejourney is so long
and convoluted, hope is nearly impossible toextract.

Nicholas
Barilar

Chicken Little, Gandalf (The
Lord of the Rings' wizard), an abusive parent, an Indian angel, suicide,
and Jesus Christ in a muu muu are now available in one convenient package! All
of these characters--and more--reside in KeukaCollege's
production of Christopher Durang's Miss
Witherspoon. As an added bonus, they'll throw in brilliantly conveyed
messages about the weight of consequence and the redemptive power of self, all delivered
in a satiric fashion, all for no extra charge!

Robby
Bassler

KeukaCollege's production of Christopher
Durang's Miss Witherspoon tugged my
soul between heaven and hell. Maryamma (Meghan Russell) a Hindu goddess wrapped
in a divine blue and gold sari, pondered the meaning of reincarnation while
alternately adopting the stereotypical Indian accent of The Simpsons' Apu and the Jamaican patois of infomercial queen Miss
Cleo. As these contradictions snowballed, Miss
Witherspoon left me in limbo.

Michael Cook

The world is in danger because humans can't just get along,
the sky is falling, events from decades past traumatize one woman. Only one
person can stand up and save humanity. Who is this hero? Why, Miss Witherspoon
of course! Chistopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon tracks our reluctant
hero's spiritual journey through the afterlife. As with many other Durang
plays, no topic is taboo and audiences will find themselves laughing at topics
they'd otherwise find uncomfortable. However, KeukaCollege's
recent production was like reluctantly going on a spiritual journey that no one
could stop once it started.

Mark Costello

A young woman of no more than 21 flops around like a beached
sea creature. She's writhing in a big way, as though her brown-hued, business-casual
outfit is made of peanuts and she's allergic. Her eyes strain upward, her face
is almost on the ground, and in a terrified flash, her hand darts back toward
her raised hindquarters. Stunned confusion soon trumps horror, as said hand
spastically fans an imaginary flame. We soon get it: she's pretending to be a
dog. This unfortunate, disturbing mishandling of Christopher Durang's
pleasantly dark comedy is the norm in KeukaCollege's
Miss Witherspoon, directed by Mark
Wenderlich.

Connor Davis

Is
this Heaven? Nope, it's purgatory, and unless you quit killing yourself you're
going to stay here for all eternity! Sticking around may be a problem for suicidal
Veronica, who rests uneasily at the center of Christopher Durang'sPulitzer Prize-finalistfarceMiss Witherspoon.KeukaCollege's witty tongue-in-cheek
production puts audience members in Veronica's shoes. Fueled by rapid comedic
timing and absurdist farce, director Mark Wenderlich creates a fun production
that's stimulates the mind with ideas about morality and hope.

Valerie
Gibbs

"Who said life has to
move forward? Can't it move backwards, too?" KeukaCollege's
production of Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon,
directed by Mark Wenderlich, provides a unique response to this question.In the place between life on earth and
eternal afterlife, we find Miss Witherspoon - a woman forced into perpetual
reincarnation until she rids herself of bad karma and achieves divine
enlightenment. Unfortunately, this production struggles to accomplish a similar
goal.

Peter Starr Northrop

So the lights came up for KeukaCollege's
production of Christopher Durang's Miss
Witherspoon and immediately this insufferable woman started yammering into
a telephone. Her tone was flat, her voice irritating. I groaned at the thought
of listening to her prattle on for a whole production, and held that thought
for all of two seconds when, suddenly, the sky fell down and she died--much to
the audience's delight. This is how a legendary show begins.

Nathan Taylor

Ever wanted to see a two-week-old baby incite an invisible
dog named Fido into mauling her to death? Never fear, KeukaCollege
is here with Christopher Durang's Miss
Witherspoon. With the edge of a baseball bat, this script remains a gift
from heaven while the production clings to tearing pages as flames lick at its
feet.

Jensen
Toperzer

KeukaCollege's production of Christopher Durang's Miss
Witherspoon is a manic dive through contemporary American culture, filled
with rapid-fire commentary on everything from the post-9/11 culture of fear to
modern New Age 'crystal and candle' religions. Sara Munio's Veronica bemoans
her fate (a series of unhappy reincarnations), inviting a playful sense of
cathartic schadenfreude. But the
true show-stealer is Meghan Russell as quirky, overly cheerful guru Maryamma.

Kelly
Wetherald

Is
life like a box of chocolates?No. Life is a dream-cycle filled with suffering,
sacrifice, and perpetual annoyance; at least according to Miss Witherspoon, Christopher
Durang's suicidal cynic starving for peace in the afterlife.KeukaCollege's production ofMissWitherspoon came to the Kennedy Center American
College Theater Festival stage to express dual ideas: the importance of
reincarnation and society's future survival. Did it achieve those goals?
Or was the hour and a half simply a one man show with an abusive mother, Hindu
spiritual guide and invisible dog named Fido thrown in for spice?

My Critics Institute students got a real challenge yesterday: review Indiana University of Pennsylvania's production of the charming family show A Year with Frog and Toad, and then review Stockton College's A Comb and a Prayer Book, a first-person account of the Holocaust. So yeah, they had one helluva day. Here are those reviews (I gave the option of choosing which one to post).

What we'd like to know is this: what works for you and what doesn't. Pick your favorite review and tell that critic why you liked it. Find common threads that run through the reviews and point out who expresses those themes most successfully and why. Tell the students what you want from a review, and let them know if anyone delivered.

A Year with Frog and Toad

Robby Bassler

Wake up! Come on, hibernation is over! No it does not matter
what your age is, because Willie Reale's adaptation of Arnold Lobel's Frog and
Toad series titled A Year With Frog and
Toad presented by IUP takes both young and old on an adventure as large as
your wildest imaginations.

We are going to start our adventure off in a waterfall of
shrill trumpets, finger-snapping bass riffs, and synthesizers that outlive
their reputation. With a little help from your imagination, bells turn into
swirling leaves to create the environment. Occasionally, critters will sing
along with these background beats, but you must watch out for awkward pauses
before, during, and after these animals begin their swan songs. Fortunately the
beautiful woodland voices cover up any murky water in the composition and you
will be singing along with them in your head long after the adventure is over.

The guides of our adventure, Frog and Toad as played by Sean
Barrett and Joe York respectively, outshine expectations from the most
dedicated toad-toting toddler or teen.They will take us through relatively simple book-cover set that is
transformed by the imaginations of the animals and audience. The wise,
dry-humored frog guides Toad, the physical, Chris Farley doppelganger as they
fly kites, splash in a swimming hole, and bake cookies. You will surely learn
and laugh along as the lanky frog and the large, loveable toad learn more about
their unique friendship.

Wacky yet simple props give the illusion of magical
flower-growing, springs shooting out of an alarm clock, and sponge sandwiches
dripping water. Toad's polka dotted yellow bathing suit equipped with 1920's
swimmer cap and an ensemble of doo-wop bird outfits of lace wings and a feather
hat highlight the Dr. Seuss-like costume choices. The doo-wop birds fly in with
the props or scenery changes to make sure that there are no pauses in the
adventure.

No matter how great, an adventure is not complete without
its precautions. On your adventure you must watch out because the poorly lit
path equipped with purposeless spotlight-ningbugs may have you missing important
moments in the show. Not even the brown blobs topped with a light bulb can help
you as underdeveloped characters prevent them from ever illuminating the
situation. You might not even be able to see the snail that will leave poor
timing slime all over your knickers and slow down your journey to an awkward
pace merely to sing about how everyone should take a "real good look at her."

Toad and Frog's platonic book-ending where they meet each
other in their dreams and summarize the entire show might be the only failure
of the script not to dumb down the message for kids. Throughout the rest of the
adventure, you will be treated as an intelligent member of Toad and Frog's
witty, vaudevillian comedy. So dads that would rather hibernating, use your
children as an excuse to lick this toad and ride out the multi-colored
shockwave of fun.

Mark J. Costello

Frog and Toad Not Just Child's Play

Mention "children's theater" to any member of the arts set
and watch them convulse. The mere utterance calls up images of well-meaning but
generally inept production teams staging concentrated saccharine on DayGlo
sets. The fear is that easy physicality might trump complex story and that no
thread, thought, or moment will last longer than 30 seconds. It's a rule that
children's productions are little more than distracting chaos unleashed,
because kids are dumb, right?

Absolutely not,
booms the reply from IUP's Theatre-by-the-Grove. A Year With Frog and Toad is the latest volley against drivel in
the war for legitimate children's theater. Sean Barret's Frog and Joe York's
Toad guide us through a whimsical, musical world in which snails deliver mail,
a protean chorus of birds croon in Andrews Sisters melodies, and most
importantly, no one in the audience is talked down to.

A simple set (a storybook backdrop, a few sticks of
furniture, and two white picket fences) allows for an expansive space in which
magic can be made. And magic it truly is: IUP's production teaches that in a
world where we value and care for each other more than ourselves, the things we
want simply appear in the wings. Lovingly holding a flowerpot allows flowers to
grow (quite suddenly!) and seats appear when tired bones call out to them. Frog
and Toad's child-sized bromance envelops the stage in a magical ether where
innocence is rewarded.

The show's tech aspects are at once its blessing and its
curse. Spring-loaded alarm clocks and flowerbeds, sharply colored 1930s-chic
costuming, and punny cookbooks ("Betty Croaker"--go ahead and groan) create a
whimsy one settles into readily. Meandering spotlights, however, sometimes
distractingly light up barren stretches of empty stage. The pit overpowers the
cast often (especially Barret, when he slips into his low register), and one
must endure uninspired, repetitive choreography during frequent musical
interludes.

Strong performances save us from these wanting moments,
however. York
can pull laughs out of the audience simply by twitching his eyes or muttering
innocent epithets under his breath. His and Barret's comedic timing fire with
Annie Oakley-like precision. Veronica Wilt (at various points a Bird, Mouse,
Turtle, and Mole) pulls at her whiskers or flicks her beak in so
meticulous-yet-subtle a way that one, at once, notices the skill of the actress
and senses the breathing reality of the animal. And, most impressively, not
once do the performances push into condescension: at all points, IUP asserts
complicated theatrical conventions (for example: see this man in a suit? He's
actually a frog--run with it) and fully expects kids to come along for the ride.

Their willingness to respect child intelligence is rewarded
in the formation of a well-rounded, respectable production. They have told
children that it's okay to dream, to love simply, and to put others before all
things.

Maybe it isn't really children's theater after all.

Connor Davis

Sweet,
with an Excellent Crunch

"Crisp, but not overly brittle,
just a scintilla of spice, and cunningly soft in the middle." Claims the
delightful Frog as he relishes a fresh cookie from his pal Toad.

Coincidentally, Frog is also
describing Indiana UniversityPennsylvania's production ofA Year with
Frog and Toad. Based on the classic children books byArnold Lobel,
this cheery musical chronicle the events of two best friends through one year.Warmly acted and agreeably sung, this
production was as tasty and enjoyable as the first bite of a warm
chocolate-chip cookie right out of the oven.

WithRobert Reale's
score, which ranges from brisk jazzy melodies to breezy country tunes, andWillie Reale's
witty book the play has something for everyone. This is not your average
children's play that uses witty dialogue to play down to a young child or over
their heads. Under the delicate and careful direction of Rob Gretta, the small
ensemble remains true to the script and does not favor an adult or children's
audience. The show portrays a simple friendship that is strong and can't be
broken in half like a cookie.

At the center of this production
were a charming and playful Sean Barret as Frog and the sincere and sometimes
doleful Joe York as Toad. Both embody their character fully, keeping the
audience engaged through inside jokes, and amusing sight gags. The ensemble
works hard, and seamlessly with the audience to tell a warm story of friendship
and devotion.

If there is any burnt or overcooked
element in this production, it came from Brandon Beale & Anthony Lombardi'slighting design.
While creating beautiful atmospheric looks to Dan Iwaniec's minimalist set,
their use of follow spots was the only stale part of this production. At times
the actors were not in their light, and could not be seen by the audience. Not
to pin all the blame on Beale & Lombardi, Gretta stages several scenes
extremely down stage creating impossible positions to hang and focus lights.

Dan Iwaniec's charming costumes
provided depth to characters, and caused the characters to jump out of the
stage like a children'spop-up book. Carefully and cleverly detailed, the
costumes gave each character their own distinct style. From Frog's sharp
striped suit, with green leggings, to Toad's poke-a-dotted suit with converse
sneakers, the costumes gave the actors another layer to dig deeper into their
amphibian characters.

Zipping along at a quick ninety
minute pace, this delightful musical comedy reminds audience members that
simple is better. Many contemporary musicals today try and boast flashy
technical elements to Wow the audience over, yet contain librettos and scores
that are hollow and flat.A
Year with Frog and Toadis
consumed like a chocolate-chip cookie, delicious from first bite to last and
profoundly memorable long after it has been fully digested.

Valerie Gibbs

Is Spring Here Yet?

A lot can happen in a year, especially when you're hanging
out with two energetic amphibians like Frog and Toad. Indiana University of
Pennsylvania's production of A Year with
Frog and Toad takes this classic children's story and brings it to life in
a vibrant way. These two amphibious pals will keep you leaping with laughter
through every season, no matter what your age. Who ever said there was an age
limit to children's theater? This show definitely proves that anyone can
rediscover their inner child and enjoy the innocence of a make believe world in
which animals can sing and dance.

The five person cast took on the challenge of over thirteen
different characters and performed a show enjoyable for the entire family. The
girls of the ensemble sung as sweetly as any Lady Bird and had tight harmonies
and full voices that produced the sound of a much larger ensemble. Sean Barrett
(Frog) and Joe York (Toad) did not have to work hard to gain the complete
attention and approval of the audience. They were engaging and easy to watch,
and when they had fun, the audience had fun too. They had a strong connection
and portrayed a lifelong friendship. They showed us just how fun baking
cookies, flying kites, and sledding with your friends can be. Frog and Toad
were best friends, and as we journeyed through the year with them, we learned
more and more about what true friendship looks like. Though the story is
technically meant for children, the script kept the parents in mind as well
with jokes about the bird flu, the wittiness of "snail mail," and various other
things that any child would probably not notice. There was something
entertaining for everyone to enjoy.

Though the set was minimal, the costumes and props were more
than enough to create the fun-filled atmosphere of this show. With the exciting
little tricks of the springing alarm clock and the growing flowers in the
garden, to the cleverness of using sponges for soggy sandwiches, the props
added a youthful, excitement and mystical element to the show.The vintage style of the costumes gave the
show the feel of a sophisticated fairytale. The textures and fashions
coordinated perfectly with the jazz era musical style as well. Even those in
"the pond pit" were dressed to match. This show was unified across the
spectrum.

The only thing that needed more attention was the lighting. The
follow spots struggled to keep up with their actors and at one point, the
audience members somehow became illuminated as well. The house lights flickered
at one part too, which could have easily been prevented. The overall lighting
was sloppy and flat and did not do much to enhance the atmosphere of the show. However,
all the other elements worked so well together that I was willing to overlook
the unimpressive lights and still enjoy an experience that had me ready to
spend another year with the wonderful dynamic duo, Frog and Toad.

Nathan Taylor

There Could Be No Better Friend Than IUP

Frogs and toads and snails - oh my! No, it wasn't an aquatic
version of "The Wizard of Oz," but rather Indiana University of Pennsylvania's
production of A Year with Frog and Toad,
a children's theater musical whose title couldn't be more truthful. Exploring
the bonds of friendship, Frog and Toad bake cookies, ride a sled, and rake each
others leaves as the seasons pass.

Even before the musical begins the audience is immersed into
the storybook world of these lovable characters when musical director Tom
Octave introduces the orchestral "pond." Though the set is minimalistic,
nothing besides a few choice pieces are ever needed; the production is carried
primarily through the actors, props, and costumes, a welcome change from the
growing trend of spectacle heavy musicals.

Sean Barrett's Frog provides an air of cordiality without
ceding any of the downright neighborly vibes towards Joe York's ragamuffin
Toad. Their relationship was like a G-rated version of Neil Simon's "The Odd
Couple;" despite the clear differences in their characterizations, there was
never any doubt about how much each actor cared about the other - it was in
their voices and physicality. Even with an over the top style conducive towards
children's theatre, their believability never faltered.

Both Barrett and York utilized melodious voices that rose to
the belting occasion when required. What was truly impressive was their ability
to keep their respective character voices when doing so; Barrett's was deep and
rich, while York's
was more nasally and high pitched. The main difference between the two, and the
divergence between a good performance and a great one, were their capabilities
with comedic timing. While not awful, Barrett mistimed a fair number of his
jokes which turned the show's intended steady stream of laughter into shorter
gale force bursts.

Helping York
with his masterful use of comedy were a plethora of props produced by Natalie
Brown and Amber Musselman. Adding to the cartoonish nature of the show were
their rather numerous creative devices; memorable ones include a breakable
alarm clock that shot springs, a bed of soil from which flowers popped up, and
sponge burgers which wrung out water onto the stage.

Supporting actresses Jamie Markel, Whitney Weimer, and
Veronica Wilt made full use of Dan Iwaniec's inventive costumes that were quite
congruent with the nature of the props.With ears made of springs, shells made of blankets, and miner's head
lamps made from plastic wine glasses, Iwaniec's design never showed a lack of
ingenuity without impeding any functionality.

"A Year with Frog and Toad" is best described in the words
of the titular characters when they sing "it's inconceivable! It's
unbelievable!" The only thing they leave out is that IUP's musical is a whole
heap of fun, unrestricted to age and guaranteed to make audiences giggle.

A Comb and a Prayer Book: A Survivor's Story

Shawn Arnold

"Survivor Story" Needs a Little Help

Okay, epic story, guys! Elizabeth Goldstein, a young
Hungarian Jew, is uprooted thanks to the Holocaust. She embarks on a perilous
journey from concentration camp to concentration camp. Along the way she loses
most of her family, but refuses to lose her own will. She even manages to
escape the bloody Nazi regime and passes down her story to her granddaughter.
If this were a play, sounds like it would make for some assuredly gripping
theater, right? Epic stuff!

RichardStocktonCollege's
production of A Comb and a Prayer Book
does not quite live up to this epic-ness. In an attempt to avoid a "typical"
Holocaust play, director Pamela Hendrick decided to create a text-based piece
stylistically employing chamber theater (think books on tape, but instead
onstage). Although it attempts to send a clear message home, the end result of
this "creative" endeavor is a muddy mix that has moments that stun as well as
bore.

The piece visually nails it. Dan Wright and Chuck Cole's use
of side/down light casts huge shadows and creates an ominous sense of
foreboding. This is most intense when a Nazis' Greek chorus is rambling off a
cacophony of legislation on the suppression of Jews.

The sound design by Jessica Schon includes bold and haunting
choices. Most notably is a sequence where she uses John Hobbie's versatile set
as a means to create sounds of a munitions factory. By hitting, scraping and
slamming the set, the cast viscerally brings the world of the factory to life.

Pamela Hendrick's cast clearly brings the message home that
the play is about preventing genocide. There is also an intense focus on
presenting the source material as written. This non-traditional interpretation
becomes old quickly, however, as the audience is hammered over the head again
and again with presentational narration on level with Ben Stein's droning.

One would think that Hannah Hendry's Goldstein would
experience a wave of emotions induced by PTSD while recalling her horrific
past. Sadly, trying to find this development is like trying to catch lightning
in a bottle. Hendry's portrayal is monotonous, and in the few months when she
is overcome with emotions, they disappear as quickly as they arrived.

Lauren Suprenant's young Elizabeth has more redeeming qualities than
her counterpart. Yes, she does fall into the trap of monotony quite a few times
when discussing the taking of her father, but her struggle with optimism is
generally clearer.

A Comb and a Prayer Book is neither stellar nor terrible. Some
brave choices that don't completely work might cost RichardStocktonCollege the patronage of
the audience member who likes a more "typical" Holocaust play (a la Anne Frank
or Playing for Time). However, those that want to explore a more presentational
text-centric piece, it might be for you.

Amy Asendorf

When A Comb and a
Prayer Book Are Your Only Hope

Family Separation. Back-breaking labor. Painful humiliation.
Torturous starvation. And all because she was Jewish. A Comb and a Prayer Book:
A Survivor's Story, as performed by the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey,
is an original verbatim theater production based on the memoir of Holocaust
victim Elizabeth Blum Goldstein. Because the majority of the production
accentuated the dismal trials of life amidst concentration camps, the display
of Goldstein's miraculous hope and resilience served merely to remind us of the
hope for human tolerance, but lacked a firm basis in reality.

Director Pamela R. Hendrick chose to utilize alternating
patterns of narration, dialogue and dramatic action which produced a haunting
rhythm to which the audience travelled alongside Goldstein. The use of
overlapping served multiple purposes as the lines between Elizabeth Goldstein
(Hannah Hendry) and Young Elizabeth (Lauren Suprenant) established a clear
distinction between Goldstein's recollection and the interview between
Goldstein and Shana Fogarty (Lauren Suprenant) at present. In addition, the
overlapping lines of the Hungarian government officials, played by the ensemble,
drowned the audience in a spinning whirlpool of hatred and fear. The nearly
monotone montage of voices took on a distinctly robotic nature, completely
unidentifiable with human emotion and empathy.

Hendrick also established the idea of rigidity within the
lives of the Holocaust victims. The meticulously equal spacing between
characters as well as the stiff stances of the Hungarian officials and camp
guards suggested the immutability of Goldstein's situation. Ironically, the
actors playing the siblings and parents of Goldstein's family also play the
guards and officials who condemn them. This intriguing duality asserts that
both sets of individuals are equally human.

Hannah Hendry provided a breathtakingly chilling portrayal
of the disturbed Goldstein. Her rich Hungarian accent combined with her meek
hesitancy naturally evoked pity and fear. It was as if Hendry were a hypnotist
as the audience fell powerless to the horrors of her account. Each time she
nearly stopped the story due to her fragile and painful memories was like a
sudden return to reality. Unfortunately, the potential cathartic effect of
Hendry's performance was hampered by her young counterpart, Lauren Suprenant.
Suprenant ultimately failed to express the horrors of her own present reality as
young Goldstein. In fact, there seemed to be no audible change in voice or
physical change in stance and presence as Suprenant oscillated between her two
roles. The calmness of Shana, the interviewer, seemed to carry over into Young
Goldstein, the mildly disturbed, if that.

Due to the complete lack of comic relief, the closing of the
production was only slightly palatable. The audience was abruptly shifted froma
pathos-ridden tale to a sudden public service announcement: What can we do to
help stop genocide? Unfortunately, it's hard to call an audience to action when
they are overwhelmend by emotional hypnosis.

Nicholas Barilar

Holocaust Play Proves to Be Devastating

Three multi-leveled scaffold towers loom before you. The
house lights slowly darken.The ominous
sound of a Yiddish tune on pipes is suddenly heard.The lights come up and the
Brechtian A Comb and a Prayer Book:A Survivor's Story plunges us into the
tragic world of a holocaust survivor. Unfortunately, this production proved
tragic as well.

It shares the story of Elizabeth Blum Goldstein who, after
facing a brutal experience in six different concentration camps, tells her
story for the first time to her granddaughter for a class project. We see both
happening at the same time.

I loved the set design by John Hobbie. It was balanced as
well as extremely usable for such a stylized show.

The lighting, by Daniel Wright and Charles Cole III, was effective,
specifically, in the use of a projection that placed barbed wire across the
entire stage provided a sharp jab to the stomach in not only separating the
characters from the world outside the concentration camps but from the audience
as well.

Perhaps the most helpful in the actual storytelling, though,
was the combination of properties and sound designs, by Jessica Schön and Patrick
Judd, respectively. When the set is pounded by billy clubs to create gunshots
that create sounds that crawl over and through you like an ocean wave the
result is chilling. Still, one of the hardest images to shake comes when the
family is forced into labor and create, using the props and their bodies, the
sounds of the factory. But, then there will be occasions when non-live sounds
were used and they simply failed to have the same impact.

The acting was largely executed in a very unrealistic
manner. These moments were probably the most effective at the beginning when
laws regarding the rights of a Jewish person were recited in a chaotic unison. However,
for the actual action of the play, it proved to be irritating because the best
moments of action where acted realistically.

The cast comes across as awkward, however, the fault probably
lies in the direction. It became very clear that what was and wasn't real or
"in the moment" wasn't real because it failed to connect and just lacked life. Coupled
with pacing problems, the direction was simply stagnant. Toward the end of
climax-devoid staging, it all just seems the same, that being too long and
slow.

The final scene between Elizabeth and her granddaughter are amongst
the most tender in the show.However, it
moves quickly from actual action immediately to what could be described as a
Brecht after-school-special for action against genocide. This is the moment
when the playwright/director decided to hit the audience over the head just to
make sure that it understood the message of the play. Thanks. We got it through
the telling the story of a historical genocide through the eyes of someone who
experienced it in a contemporary setting in a contemporary way. But thanks for
making sure.

Michael Cook

A Comb and A Lack of Justice Done

A Comb and a Prayer Book is a play about a woman revealing her
experiences in the holocaust for the first time since the events transpired.
This sentence seems to be the basis for several other books, plays, and movies.
However, A Comb and a Prayer Book
claims to be much more and falls short of those claims. The story is one of
hope and the subject matter of the Holocaust is a familiar tale to many people
who are taught not to forget the past.

Before the play started, I noticed the unconventional size of the
program and read the director's notes which stated that the director wished to
portray the reality of the holocaust using Chamber Theatre (a style of theatre
which seeks to use as much of the original text from which it was adapted)
because every other play the director read resorted to expressionism or
metaphor to convey this. However, upon viewing this play I would certainly say
that expressionism is a large influence on the play. However, the costumes didn't
lend well to either idea. The men were in costumes that suggested Jewish
apparel of the time, but the female characters were wearing black leggings and
jumpers, which could have suggested that the play is a memory, and some of the
details of the memory aren't as strong. While some may argue that this was the
entire point in doing so, it is also possible that it was entirely unnecessary.
The music seemed to cut off the actors' lines at times and at other times it
was almost overwhelming viewing the play, the acting itself was good and the
actors had to play several different characters, changing many conflicting
mindsets and personalities in a matter of minutes, and the lighting helped establish
the cold nature of the Holocaust, and the warm nature of the family.

The story itself would have been worth hearing regardless of how its
presented but I often found myself asking if the story was being dealt justice
during my viewing. However, the ending seemed to pull me entirely out of the
story and could've been a reminder that injustice carries on to this day, but
instead seemed awkwardly executed and killed the mood of the play, instead of
portraying reality it felt too much like I was watching a group of actors
trying to raise awareness about a cause.

While it was an ambitious first production, I feel as if this script
has the possibility of being executed well, but for now that will have to
wait.

Peter Starr Northrop

A Comb and a Prayer Book and Not Much Else

Ah yes, the Holocaust. It was one of the harshest crucibles
that mankind has ever had to endure. By now, we've all heard the terrible
stories of that dreadful time, from Anne Frank's heartbreaking diary to the
power and fury of Ellie Weisel's Night.
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey has tried to add one more side to
this terrible chapter with A Comb and a
Prayer Book: A Survivor's Story.

Comb tells the
story of one Stockton
grad's grandmother's struggle after the Nazis took over her homeland and sent
her to concentration camp after concentration camp. It then goes on to tell
very little else. In fact, by the end it ends up being very little more than an
infomercial, listing several genocides that are ongoing asking the audience
what they have done to stop the
horror.

But, storytelling aside, this show looked fantastic. Set designer Jon Hobbie really accomplished
something special for this show. His design is made entirely out of layers and
stacks of skeletal scaffolding backed by grey scrims. This, paired with Daniel
Wright's chilled lighting design really sombers up the audience even before the
show begins. The whole thing is cold and grey--a cloudy December afternoon on an
industrial beachfront. This spartan design leads to some incredible stage
pictures. We see a whole family crammed into the cattle car of one scaffold
while bright jagged squares of light play off their frightened faces. But these
beautiful and shudder-inducing images do little to save the show from it's
greatest flaw: the story.

The tale is told essentially through a 90 minute
intermissionless monologue shared by Elizabeth Blum (Hannah Hendry) and her
granddaughter, Shana Fogarty (Lauren Suprenant.) The show went live in the
massive Fischer Auditorium, though it became abundantly clear that Comb felt more at home in a smaller
space. Suprenant simply could not project to fill that whole auditorium, and
Hendry did not fare any better. Their speeches took on a ghostly, distant
aspect that made it difficult for the audience to make any emotional
connection.

The show is more of a torture story than a survival story. Elizabeth doesn't tell us
how she survived--she just shows that she was ripped from her home and sent to
six concentration camps where the Nazis were very mean. Then she gets
liberated. Then she goes to New
Jersey. The end. The program tells a better story
than the actual play, saying that Elizabethtriumphed over the holocaust--surviving
and raising a family in South Jersey despite
what she had been through. What I would have loved to see was a second
act--where Elizabeth gets out of Europe, goes to Jersey (survives Jersey) and raises that family. That would make an audience stand up and cheer. I want to see the triumph, not just the mere survival of
someone.

While Comb is a
very important story, it simply does not tell enough of it to make the
experience have anything other than a slight educational value.

Jensen Toperzer

A Comb and a Prayer Book: A Survivor's Story

In literary fiction, there is an adage that one should
always show, not tell - that is, a character should not simply
state "I am angry," but show their rage through their actions and reactions. It
is advice repeated to the point of near absurdity, but that does not change its
relevance, and it is at this very task that Pamela Hendrick's adaptation A Comb and a Prayer Book: A Survivor's Story
utterly fails.

There's a certain irony in this, as the theater is a medium
precisely for showing, not telling, but many parts of A Comb and a Prayer Book feel like a
book report rather than a play, with the narrators both seeming emotionally
distant from their subject matter - a true shame, as the story itself should be
incredibly moving. We speak here of a story about a woman who managed to
survive not one, but six concentration camps, and who is alive to this day with
grandchildren.

The primary problem comes from director Pamela Hendrick's
choice to create the play as a Chamber piece. While the style has been used
effectively in other contexts - such as The Grapes of Wrath - in this
case, it serves to create a gulf of emotional distance between the audience and
a subject that should, by all means, be emotionally raw. While the director's
stated goal of neither sanitizing nor romancing the Holocaust is an admirable
one, it is one the piece ultimately falls short of. Indeed, A Comb and a
Prayer Book does feel sanitized. For example, there is one scene in which a
young Elizabeth describes the horror of her
first day at Auschwitz. A woman lay on her
back beside the line as she and her family were shuffled through the gates,
screaming - she realized, watching, that the woman was giving birth. The Nazi
officers merely watched until the baby came out, and only then shot her dead,
letting her suffer as much as possible. This is a scene that should be
gut-wrenchingly powerful, that should induce a truly visceral reaction in the
audience, an idea further punctuated by the dramatic change in the lighting
from light to dark. Yet the way the lines are written coupled with a flat
delivery mean that the scene evokes no reaction whatsoever. It is simply a fact
reported to the audience, like watching a documentary or reading a history
book, not a visceral, immediate truth of the horrors present in history.

The ending of the play feels ham-handed, with the actors
listing off modern genocides in an effort to brain the audience with the fact
that the Holocaust "could happen again." But because the horrors of the
Holocaust were not presented in a way that could evoke an emotional response
from the audience, this list falls as flat as the rest of the production,
feeling more like the sort of thing told to middle school history classes.

In the end, A Comb and a Prayer Book manages to do
the very thing it set out to avoid - it sanitizes the Holocaust and worse yet, Elizabeth's story,
turning it from a real account of a horrible time in someone's life into a dull
diatribe about why one shouldn't commit genocide.

Kelly Wetherald

Operation
Comb and APrayer Book: Mission
Failed

The HolocaustofWorld War IIis
an event that educated individuals cannot avoid learning about for we are
bombarded with images, events and horrific details in American history classes
nationwide. Nearly six million Jews were murdered, tortured and humiliated
all to indulge the egotistical control freak,Adolf Hitler.Modern
society knows this.But what
about genocide in Darfur,Rwanda, orYugoslavia,
that was randomly mentioned at the end of the show? What about those
people and their suffering? What about the confinement of Japanese
Americans afterPearl Harbor.If we are obsessed with theHolocaustbecause we as Americans feel guilty,
then why aren't we creating theatrical pieces expressing other areas of
humanistic suffering? As messed up as it sounds, our culture has become
desensitized to the horror of the Holocaust.

The
main area I am struggling with was whether the purpose ofA Comb and a Prayer Book: A
Survivor's Storywas to tell
one person's history or to heighten awareness of genocide and humanistic
cruelty.The play had an unclear
objective and static storyline which in turn made the performance boring and
unbearably annoying. To me it was just another attempt at making a Holocaust
memoir that turned out to be an epic fail.

I
cannot blame the painful performance solely on the actors at StocktonCollege,
but I can however place direct blame on director Pamela R. Hendrick.In her own words, "scripts that
attempt a realistic representation of the Holocaust are problematic because
such an extreme event is impossible to recreate realistically in live performance." I
wish that she actually took some of her own advice.There are certainly successful
Holocaust survival stories that have been turned into books and plays. Anne Frankfor
example could convey a sense of fear, sympathy, strength, and most of all history
in her memoirs. That particular interpretation was focused and knew how to
appeal to an audience without being overwhelming. A Comb and a Prayer
Bookhowever did not.

Hendrick
also chose to incorporate Chamber Theatre techniques while directingA Comb and a Prayer Book: A
Survivor's Story.This
technique includes using as much original text as possible while telling the
story through a couple of main characters. Unfortunately,LaurenSuprenant playing Shana Fogerty and
Hannah Hendry playing Elizabeth Blum Goldstein's monotone vocal qualities,
unmotivated monologues and lack of ensemble interaction put me to sleep.

One
positive in this production ofA
Comb and a Prayer Bookwas
the technical lighting and set design. The use of top, side and blue light
helped to create a somber, death stricken mood that the actors themselves
couldn't naturally create.The
lighting created depth, a sense of time and helped to make the minimalistic set
spring to life.

The
high hopes that I had for this production after their nomination to KCACTF were
shattered within twenty minutes.I
found myself longing for the end or at least for the nonexistent intermission
to take a break from the monotonous one dimensional narration.

Today was the critics' first day of critic class and I felt it was important to make one thing abundantly clear before we even met: critics aren't just critics anymore. That's why, upon entering our classroom, each student opened a Twitter account (fellow tweeters can follow #kcactf2 to see what they're up to), hitched it to their Facebook accounts, and pitched me a feature story related to the festival. Along the way, we lost one student (Meredith Young) and an e-mail (Michael Cook didn't get the query request, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see his work) and gained another student. Also, I apologize in advance for the inconsistent formatting; I can't seem to get this post to appear in a single font.

So without further interference from me, here's Amy Asendorf. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Amy is currently a Dana Scholar freshman at Muhlenberg College. As a junior and senior at Hereford High School, Amy participated as a critic for the Baltimore chapter of the Cappies Critics and Awards Program, serving as lead critic her senior year. Her review for Atholton High School's The Diary of Anne Frank was selected for publication in The View newspaper in 2007. Amy was also heavily involved with the International Thespian Society, acting in a number of productions, choreographing, and serving as president her senior year. Additionally, in 2009, she won first prize in the Hunt Valley Rotary Four-Way Speech contest for her original speech entitled, "Childhood: Going Once, Going Twice." Most recently, Amy has been hired by the Muhlenberg Writing Center and will begin her work in the fall of 2010.

Now that all the formalities are out of the way, editors, journalists, and those with an interest in reading about theater are welcome to tell the students which article (or articles) wins them a paycheck and a clip, and why.

Query 1:

Dear Editor,

The Kennedy Center
American College Theater Regional Festival is a massive event, consisting of
dozens of shows put on by hundreds of students from a vast variety of different
colleges, all descending upon one place at one time. What does it take to
organize a conference of this size and scope? How does one handle that much
information and corroborate with so many people successfully?

I would like to
present an 800 word article that tackles this question through an interview
with one of the organizers - Elizabeth van den Berg, the Region II Vice-chair.
Ms. van den Berg is responsible for a large amount of the organization behind
the event, and an interview would provide a more personal lens through which to
view the underlying structure of the event.

The article is a
behind-the-scenes look at KCACTF, examining how the event is organized from an
insider's perspective, looking at the nitty-gritty behind the process. I look
specifically at how one balances so many varied factors with the pressures of
real life and teaching theater, as well as what the festival itself means to
the people working on it.

As an English
major specializing in creative nonfiction, I have a strong grasp of the English
language and knowledge of how to write for magazines. Furthermore, I have
worked personally with Ms. van den Berg for over four years on projects both in
school and out, and am familiar with her and her work process. I thus have easy
access to my interview source.

I feel that this
article is an ideal subject for your magazine, and I hope that it piques your
interest. Thank you for your time.

- B. Jensen
Toperzer

Query 2:

The Indiana Metropolitan Times

"Pennsylvania's
#3 metropolitan newspaper."

1239 Reality
Road

Indiana
Pa, 15705

www.isweartogodthisisarealnewspaper.com

Dear Editor,

The theater world has a new and exciting craze that's
popping up in small drama companies all across the country. It's an incredible
movement called "24 hour theater." This new twist on drama involves paring down
the usually lengthy and exhausting process of writing, workshopping and producing a fully staged show from what could be several years to just a single
day. This bold new form of expression is usually done in a festival setting
where a rag-tag group of writers, directors, actors and designers are
frantically thrown together into teams. They are then given a concept and (you
guessed it) 24 hours to write, produce and perform a ten minute play. These
festivals are usually teeming with the theater scene's amateurs, all of them
desperate for that first chance to express their vision on the stage.

This sounds lovely, but do the theater-goers of your readers
really want to go see a play (or series of plays) that have been haphazardly
built over the course of a single day? What's the appeal of 24-hour theater to
an audience?

I would like to offer your publication a 1,200-1,500 word
feature article entitled "The Fringe Challenge--a look inside the new form of
spontaneous theater" that answers that very question. The article will take a very in-depth look at
one of the many spontaneous theater
festivals that has popped up in the region--The Kennedy Center American College
Theater Festival's Fringe Challenge. While the Fringe Challenge is technically 48 hour theater, it's still got all the
aspects one would expect from a 24 hour theater fest. Best of all, this year's
challenge is held at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, located in the back yard of
most of your publication's reader base.

The article will go in depth into the conceptual side of
this new art form, opening up with the Fringe Challenge's long-time director,
Len Kelly. It will then feature interviews with several of the Challenge's
participants--where they will share their background in theater and their
passion for this fun new way of looking at the performance arts. The article
will be a collage of different stories from a wild and maddening 48 hour period
that leaves its participants and audience members forever transformed. It will
show amateurs pull off stunning theatrical feats that--given the
circumstances--seem almost impossible.

The article can also have several aspects on your
publications website if desired. Full audio interviews with participants are
available and several groups involved have agreed to have their chaotic writing
and rehearsal sessions filmed for internet publication--giving further breadth
to this experience.

The Fringe Challenge begins on January 12th , and
goes live on the night of the 14th.
The article and online aspects can be available to you by as early as
the 15th.

Sincerely,

Peter Starr Northrop

Query 3:

Dear Editor,

How many times have you driven down an unknown street in Philadelphia, and had a chill run down your spine? Did you immediately lock your doors, and accelerate your car to escape the block? If you have then the Temple University theater department's production of Shot! wants to have a brief word with you.

I'd like to offer you a 1,200-word article entitled "Song of the Street". The theater department of Temple University has conceived a brand newperformance piece entitled Shot! The piece gives audience members an inside look at Beirut, a Northern Philadelphia urban community, whose image has been tarnished from the 1964 riots.

My article will examine the process that the production team of Shot! went through and give an inside look at the process that goes into putting a piece of this nature together.
Temple University uses poetry, monologues, songs, and documentary footage to create an authentic narrative and perspective of a neighborhood that has been.

Through interviews with writer Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, director Doug Wager, and a few members of the ensemble members I will give readers an insight into the process. I will also have video recordings of the interview to place on your website.
As a theater artist and scholar I believe that it is important to highlight this production and highlight the Docudrama performance style. I believe that through this production, Philadelphia citizens will get an insider's perspective into the real story of their community and an insight in the process that goes into putting a piece of this nature together.

I would like to thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing back from you!

Connor Davis

Query 4:

Dear Editor,

Is there really such a drastic gap between entertainment for children versus entertainment for adults?And do basic instincts and values change over time or are the morals instilled in us as children timeless?Actors and adult audience members alike tend to look at children's productions as a "dumbed-down" version of stereotypical theatre.On the contrary, children's theatre explores a different aspect of creative expression, taking a script and interpreting the text to be universally relatable.

I would like to offer you a 1,000 word article entitled, "Rediscovering Childhood in a World of Professionalism."The article would explore the importance of well rounded theatrical exposure, the connection between a mature and elementary script style as well as Indiana University of Pennsylvania's effect on the youth of the community.IUP's presentation of A Year with Frog and Toad by Willie and Robert Reale opened my eyes to the lack of children's style shows in production, especially at the collegiate level.These specific points are supported with interview quotes of the cast and director, Rob Gretta, as well as video clips of recent productions.

The lack of children's theatre workshops and events at KCACTF further proves the reasoning behind this article.According to the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, children's theatre is a completely different focus for the performing arts that has consistently increased in both revenue and popularity over the last decade.Shouldn't professors, actors, directors and theatre goers alike place more weight and interest on this steadily growing field?

Children's theatre can be thought of as the foundation of theatrical experience.If an actor or director can interpret a script and convey its message to a sea of children, then they can take the basics of a mature script and convey its ideas to a sea of educated adults.

As an actor, newly evolving director, and avid writer I feel that I have an extremely diverse and multi-faceted viewpoint and would therefore be the best candidate to write for your journal.I am a junior musical theatre major and nonprofit studies minor at James Madison University and have recently worked with JMU's Professional Children's Playshop in the summer of 2009.I have a passion for children and the importance of theatre in their ever-changing development as productive and artistic citizens.

I thank you for taking the time to review and consider my proposal and I look forward to hearing your response.If you are interested in the details of my research or this unconventional perspective, I would be glad to have my article, "Rediscovering Childhood in a World of Professionalism" on your desk within two weeks of hearing your response.Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Kelly Wetherald

Query 5:

Dear Editor,

Many people are fascinated by the survival stories of the
men and women who endured life in concentration camps during the Holocaust, but
how often do we really stop and think about how hard and grueling their lives
must have been? There are plenty of
books and documentaries on this subject, but few have ventured to take these
stories to the stage.A Comb and a Prayer Book: A Survivor's Story,
by Pamela Hendrick, is the story of Elizabeth Blum, who, by the age of
nineteen, had endured life in six concentration camps.It is based on personal interviews and the
book written by her granddaughter, Shana Fogarty.

I would like to offer you a 1000-word article title "Staging
the Holocaust," which examines the long process of transforming the book and
interviews of this Holocaust survivor into a theatrical production.Specifically, I will examine the process of
the show performed by The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey at the 42nd
Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival held in Indiana,
Pennsylvania.

The stage is a place where we see stories brought to life,
made into a reality.This article will
explain exactly how that is made possible.It will follow the show's development from a simple interview, to the writing
of the book, and finally, to the stage.It will not only present the difficulties in putting such an emotional
event under the lights, but it will explain the effect that doing so can
hold.Staging historical events is
different from creating a movie on the subject in that the action is
experienced right before our very eyes; the audience is in the moment, and is able to relive a bit of history.This not only creates a bridge to the past,
but it furthers one's appreciation of the present.

As a Theatre major at JamesMadisonUniversity, I have had
the privilege to work on various shows and see exactly how they come into
existence on the stage.This story is
unique, however, and travels far beyond the stage curtain.

I hope that you sense my passion for this subject and if
interested, I can have my full article to you within two weeks of your approval.I am looking forward to hearing from
you.

Thank you for your time,

Valerie Gibbs

Query 6:

Dear Editor,

The other day I saw a four-year-old teach her father how to
use his I-Phone to take a picture.Generations
in this country find it difficult to communicate because they do not
communicate through the same media.TempleUniversity's
theatrical production of Shot! at the
KennedyCenter's
American College Theatre Festival held at IUP mixes the formal medium of
theatre with the technological medium of film to form a multi-generational,
live-technology medium anddiscuss
racial issues in past and present Philadelphia.

I want to offer you a 1000 word article entitled "Snap-Shot!:TempleUniversity's Shot! Discusses the Role of Race in Past and Present Northern Philadelphia." Shot!
utilizes live and prerecorded interviews with our city's citizens of past and
present to shed a new light on racial prejudice from 1964 to today.

"Snap-Shot!" addresses
how the fuse of theatre and film made a new medium for addressing race in Shot!Interviews from old and new generations of Northern-Philadelphian
audience members explore how Shot! acts
a gateway to new racial frontiers.The
article concludes with the idea that interlocking technology and race in Shot! helps two generations of
Philadelphians share accounts of racial strife.

This article is important to Philadelphians because it
demonstrates how multi-media performance in Shot!
starts a new discussion that is accessible to all generations and races.

As a Native-American critic and a product of today's
technology codependency, I offer insight into how using a timeless medium to
fuse generations and discuss racial tension.Additionally, "A Night at the KCACTF Drive-In," my runner-up critique in
last year's American College Theatre Festival, provides insight into my
exploration of the use of live-technology in Shot!

I hope that I can interest you in sharing this discussion
with the city of Philadelphia.If you are interested in publishing this
article in your upcoming edition, then I can have it on your desk within 24
hours.If you would like to propose any
other topics for me to write on, please contact me.Thank you for your time and interest.

Sincerely,

Robby Bassler

Query 7:

Dear Editor,

It's always wonderful when we
get to celebrate ambassadors of the City of Brotherly Love going forth and accomplishing
great things, especially when our community was able to watch that group
develop its talent. One such moment is quickly approaching and attention must
be paid: the Arcadia University Theater has been selected to attend the Kennedy
Center American College Theater Festival in January. There, Arcadia will be presenting their production
of Samm Art-Williams' Home which ran
in late October 2009. KCACTF recognizes and awards the best and brightest
theater talent nationwide. Arcadia's
student theater group has already received a number of merit certificates from
the festival and now, they will have the chance to perform a full-length show
in competition for celebrated theater professionals.

For your publication, I would
like to write an 800 - 1,000 word article tentatively entitled: "Taking Home With Them." The piece will detail
the production's path from stunning hometown show to successful, recognized
opus as follows:

·Back
story. By interviewing Mark Wade (director), Taysha Canales, Brianna
McBride Pope, and Jamal Douglas (all of them ensemble actors and KCACTF merit
certificate winners), I will provide a look at the driving personalities behind
the work's hometown success. I will also detail their connection to the Philadelphia area in depth.

·Outcome. After establishing the group's
path to the festival, the remainder of the piece will be devoted to detailing
the students' current preparation for performance, the outcome of the
competition, and the students' reaction to it.

I am a master's candidate in
theater at VillanovaUniversity, a program I
entered after spending four undergraduate years performing on a college stage.
I have worked in various positions in two prominent Philadelphia theater companies (PTC and
Theatre Exile). As such, I
am highly concerned with rising college theater companies that are making the Philadelphia cultural scene proud, such as Arcadia. I hope that a
piece with as rich a connection to Philadelphia
as this can find a home with your publication; if so, I can have it to you by
January 20th. I thank you for reading my correspondence, and hope to
hear from you!

Best,

Mark J. Costello

Query 8:

Dear Editor,

Beads of sweat dot the furrowed brow of the twentysomething
actor. They gently cascade down his nose while the butterflies in his stomach
do choreographed air shows. Throw on top of this the fact that he is competing
against 200 other students for a chance at a scholarship. Thus is a case of one
student who is taking part in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre
Festival (KCACTF) Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship.

I would like to offer you a 1000 word article on the journey
of local college students who take part in the KCACTF Region II scholarship
program (tentative title- Going for
Granny: Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship).

In the article I would specifically like to track the
progress of three to four students who take part in the process. Here I hope to
examine their feelings about auditions, acting, and what the scholarship would
mean to them.

To begin with, the article will briefly introduce the reader
to exactly how students are selected. I will then follow the stories of three
to four local college students who are competing in the competition. This will
paint a picture of the experience of each actor's time in the Ryan audition
process. Following the festival I will sit down with each student and conduct a
formal interview. Here I will gets the reflections of each student after all is
said and done.

As a former Irene Ryan partner and actor I know the strife
auditions can cause and the journey students go through academically while
honing their craft. These students are the future of theatrical arts, and they
are products of this paper's base. I hope you find interest in this topic, and
I am looking forward to your response. I can have a copy of it to you 3 weeks
following the regional competition and your approval. Again thank you for your
time!

Sincerely,

Shawn Arnold

Query 9:

Dear Editor,

Angry shouts are heard in the distance. You walk around the corner and down a
street. The sound grows louder. You continue around yet another corner and
find the source: a large group of
political activists spreading a message.
What might be the most intriguing aspect of the group is that they are
made up of college students. The college
student body has traditionally been a political force to be reckoned with and the
theatre has proven to be an excellent venue to send a message.

I am offering to write an article entitled something to the
affect of "Political College Theatre - You Cannot Stop It!" that would be some
3,000 - 4,000 words in length on the political nature of college theatre and
how it is bound to continue to be a natural choice of medium and venue through
which a political message may be conveyed using the shows featured at this
year's American College Theatre Festival in region two as examples.

The article will include commentaries on the festival's
productions of A Comb and a Prayer
Book: A Survivor's Story, Increased Difficulty of Concentration,
and Widows Each have a political or
social issue behind them (genocide, sexual morality in the workplace, and
repressive government, respectively). I
will also include interviews with the cast and director of A Comb and a Prayer Book in my article, to gain a better
demonstrate the potency of the political college theatre scene. What's more, if you should chose to pursue
the publication of this article, I will provide the full audio to the
interviews I will be conducting.

My article would focus on the political and social aspects
of each play and how college theatre groups will use plays like the ones that
will be seen at the festival to make their own charged statement as well as how
colleges are an ideal place to present a political play.

I hope to hear from you soon and that the topic of my
article might be of interest to your publication. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Barilar

Query 10:

Dear Editor,

You find yourself at an audition, receive a cold reading, and are told to go with no time to prepare. The casting director vaguely asks you to try something "different." Your scene partner drops their line and everyone stands around awkwardly, now unsure of both themselves and the scene. Whatever the scenario, there is one solution accessible to all - improv. With some sort of improvisational training, actors will never find themselves stumped in any sort of circumstance.

I would like to offer you an 800 word article titled "The Importance of Improv: Imagination in Action." The article would discuss the significance of actors attending improv classes and workshops, and provide an evaluation of several workshops, informing readers about various teachers and their methods.

Take Gail Winar's workshop "Theatre Games," being taught at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival this week. It describes itself as a way to "explore theater games and improvisational exercises to wake up your creativity, imagination, and awareness during the rehearsal process." In my own experience, there are several types of directors, and a number of them have no problem with an actor bringing their own ideas to the table - some, in fact, encourage it. Through improv, one can open themselves up, becoming more extroverted and willing to share their ideas.

Another area improv can help an actor explore is physicality; with enough creativity and a willingness to explore their environment and their body, actors can discover mannerisms unique to their character that they might never have dared to try before. Improv is no simple chocolate or vanilla but rather the Neapolitan, where no one bite is exactly the same as the last. Improv is a tasty gift that changes in every new situation.

The great American improvist Viola Spolin once wrote in her book "Improvisation for the Theatre" that "everyone can improvise." Whether or not every person has the ability to travel to Second City or star on "Saturday Night Live" is of no matter; the mere introduction of improv can enhance an actor's innate skills. My article will show the influence of improv by interviewing those who attend these workshops, and asking them how each class heightened the skills they already had.

I was not only involved in improv in high school, but also at my college (James Madison University's "New and Improv.'d"). The value of the practices, the conferences we visit, and the myriad of classes we attend is unfathomable, so I speak from experience when I say that improv is an inestimable tool that should be utilized by every actor.

Please let me know if you have any interest in this article or its subject matter, and I can have a finalized copy of the article delivered to you within a week. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,Nathan Taylor

That's all for the pitches; the students are waiting to hear if any of these result in a home run. Tomorrow I'll post their first reviews, and appropriately enough, the two shows they saw today run the emotional gamut from comedy to tragedy. Both have literary roots, but A Year with Frog and Toad, based on Arnold Lobel's children's stories, and A Comb and a Prayer Book, based on Elizabeth Blum Goldstein's Holocaust memoir, couldn't be more different. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they handle this analytical mood swing, and I hope you are too.

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's Region II O'Neill Critics Institute starts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. I know that's a lot of qualifiers, but I, for one, am unqualified in my excitement about this year's event. Thus far, we're set to have the largest enrollment ever in this region, plus, two of last year's contenders will return to try again for their chance at the golden ticket. This is a big deal because, as you may have heard, the profession is in a bit of a holding pattern (cough, nosedive, cough) right now. But it does my heart good to see this many students undeterred; the more young, creative, tech-savvy minds willing to give arts journalism a go, the likelier it is that someone will grab the controls and steer us in a new direction. That would be nice, since spending so long preparing for impact really has me cramped up.

As was the case last year, readers of this blog (and especially KCACTF participants) are invited to chime in with feedback for our writers. Ready to meet them?

Shawn Arnold is a senior at Clarion University and theater fanatic! He is currently pursing a B.F.A in acting, B. A. in history, and B. S. in secondary social studies education. His most recent stage appearance was in Clarion's production of David Mamet's one man show, Mr. Happiness. Some of his other theater appearances on the Clarion stage include a company member in the neo-futurist play 43 Plays for 43 Presidents, George in the dark one-act Shel Silverstein play Wash and Dry, and Mark Twain in Hauptman and Miller's musical Big River. Aside from theater and history, Shawn is also obsessed with the silly dead-pan antics of The Office and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He is excited to join Wendy and the institute again in its new incarnation following last year. He cannot wait for another chance to do it again . . . "That's what she said." [Ed. Note: Assuming here Mr. Arnold isn't referring to his teacher.]

Nic Barilar is a southern California native who fell in love with theatre at the Pantages in Los Angeles. He currently resides in the tundra of western Pennsylvania where he is a BFA acting major with technical theater and English literature minors at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. As an actor, he has been seen in such productions as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Psycho Beach Party, Much Ado About Nothing, and Brigadoon. Theatrically speaking, Nic also is interested in playwrighting, set design, and improvisation. Nic is an avid fan of the work of Stephen Sondheim. Apart from theatre, he enjoys reading the works of Stephen King, Victor Hugo, and Voltaire as well as playing piano, singing, and waxing humorous with his chums. Nic hopes to learn about a vital aspect of the theatrical world as well as improve his analytical abilities.

Robby Apple Bassler is currently enrolled as a senior in his last semester at James Madison University where he studies theater and English. This is his second time participating in the Kennedy Center's Critic's Institute; he received the runner up award during last year's competition in Region IV. Robby is also a playwright, director, actor, and technician but enjoys the potential of combining his knowledge of all of these elements in the world of critiquing. In his near future, Robby hopes to join Teach For America teaching theater in New York City and pass down what he has learned at the Kennedy Center's Critic's Institute.

Michael Antonio Cook has been practicing theater in some form for almost half of his life. From an early age he has developed the ability to quickly form opinions and impressions on things and has an incredible memory. Because of this he has decided to try his hand at being a critic to share these insights he has with the world.

Mark Costello is a second-year Master's student in the theater program at Villanova University where he focuses primarily on dramaturgy and playwriting. Most recently, he has served as the production dramaturg for Villanova's 2009 run of The Zoo Story; he is currently serving as the assistant dramaturg for the Philadelphia Theatre Company's world premiere of Terrence McNally's Golden Age. As a dramaturg, he believes that an easy and free flow of culturally relevant information helps a production inform both itself and its audience; as such, he's excited to begin doing critical work with the O'Neill Critics Institute so that he can engage with audiences instructionally through print and internet media.

Connor Davis: I am a junior theatre major at James Madison University. At JMU I worked extensively as a stage manager and director. In high school, I directed an "abridged" 30-minute version of The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). The showcompeted in the Bucks County Playhouse Secondary School Festival, where I was named Best Director. This February I will direct Adam Rapp's Red Light Winter, and stage manage CharlesMee's bobrauschenbergamerica in May. After attending multiple productions in and outside of New York, I started to write down things I liked and disliked. This began as an exercise to help my directing, but has evolved into something I enjoy. I have never considered myself to be a great writer, but this is something I think I could be good at. Through this workshop I hope to begin developing and working on the technique of writing critiques.

Valerie Gibbs: I am currently a junior theater major at James Madison University.I have been interested in theater practically my entire life, but most of my interest was in the performing aspect of it all.It was not until college that I started exploring the other aspects as well. In college, we have to write papers on the various shows we see, and through the now two-and-a-half years of doing this, I have gained a greater appreciation for theatrical critiques.I have never been extremely confident in my writing capabilities, but I have improved and I want to continue learning how to master this trade. One of my professors suggested the Critics Institute at KCACTF to me, and upon further thought, I decided it would be a great learning experience.It might be tough for me at times, but I am definitely up for the challenge.

Peter Starr Northrop is a Memphis-born, Pennsylvania-based writer with no style and an awkward sense of humor to match. He is currently a junior at Elizabethtown College, where he is frantically throwing together a double-major in English and theater. Mostly he divides his time between working as the head features editor for his school newspaper--The Etownian, heading the writers of a sketch comedy group, and attending the occasional class. When it comes to theater, Peter has recently stuck to the directing side of things. He just wrapped up a production of David Ives' English made Simple and is currently assistant-directing Elizabethtown College's production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.

Nathan Taylor is a junior at James Madison University, currently working on a double major in theater and English. He has been involved with theater since he was a young boy, appearing in several shows in the Washington D.C. area during his childhood. It was not long before Nathan realized that he had to be involved in some facet of theater for the rest of his life. Coincidentally, he has also been involved with the English language since he was a young boy, attending elementary school and learning the alphabet during his childhood. It was not long before Nathan realized that he had to both be able to speak and read the English language if he was going to be successful in his adulthood. With the love of both writing and watching a production, he naturally has a passion for critiquing shows of all types.

Barbara Toperzer: I first became involved with the theater at the age of two as a baby in The King and I. The trauma of the experience meant that I've not been on the stage much since, but it seems like I just can't get away from it completely, no matter how hard I try to pretend I want nothing to do with it. I've been involved on the edges of the theater at McDaniel College since my freshman year, mostly by helping out with tech and somehow always ending up in housing with theater people. I have a huge respect for the process and everything that goes into it, and I do love to watch live theater whenever I can. Learning to do reviews seems like a great way to combine my love of theater with my love of writing.

Kelly Wetherald: I am a junior musical theater major and nonprofit studies minor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. I got involved with theatre in eighth grade and my passion for the arts has grown exponentially from there. Over the past few years at JMU I have explored multiple aspects of theater including performance, directing and criticism. With support from my parents and professors, I have learned that there are a variety of ways to express one's creativity in the realm of theatre. Theatrical criticism is honestly a foreign avenue for me, but I think that my love for the written word as well as my passion for theater will blossom with this program. I look forward to exploring and improving my criticism skills as well as opening up new possibilities for the future.

Meredith Young: I'm a senior theater major at James Madison University. My life of crime started about 10 years ago in community theater productions. I loved performing, so I decided to parlay that enthusiasm into a bachelor's degree. At JMU, I got involved with other production areas like costuming and directing until landing in nerd heaven with dramaturgy. One of my favorite things about experiencing a show is listening to others discuss it and piece together meanings for themselves. Theater criticism affords me the opportunity to be a part of that dialogue. I could talk about a show until the cows come home, but as I understand it, the difficulty lies in having the vocabulary to do more than slam or laud (as well as in finding a balance between reviewing and analyzing). This puts the onus on a critic to be as informed as possible. I look forward to stretching and learning at KCACTF this year.

A few of the students haven't sent their bios yet, so if they show up on registration day, you'll meet them too. Hopefully, you'll also show up on registration day and throughout the festival to check in with our participants, chart their progress, scan the multiple platforms we'll be using, and help us pick a winner.

We're at the end game. Here are the final entries, unedited by me, awaiting your vote. You'll notice the absence of one member, Jennifer Ford. Ms. Ford performed in La Bete during our group critiques, and as a result, withdrew from competition. However, she was an enthusiastic participant at the meetings the attended, and dammit, we missed her while she was gone. Everyone else arrives, on time, to render their final judgement.

The winning entry and writer will attend the American College Theater Festival at the Kennedy Center this spring, and the Kennedy Center winner there will attend this summer's O'Neill Center Critics Institute. May the best writer win the comp, and may the rest walk away with the knowledge that their writing has grown immeasurably since Tuesday evening.

Directing Choices Can't Stop La Bête

By Devin Dippold

Would you enjoy a witty, fast-paced, hilarious play that ended by calling you an idiot? If so, Grove City College 's production of La Bête is the show for you. In a play that either can praise or belittle comedic theatre works, the production chooses to shame the audience for laughing rather than embrace the power of its own effort.

The script by David Hirson centers on the 1654 French acting troupe directed by Elomire (Pierce Babirak), whose plays have become stagnant. Prince Conti (Jesse Aukeman), patron of the group, hires Valere (Douglas Baker), a street performer and fool, in the hopes that he can add life to Elomire's work. Hirson loosely bases Valere on French playwright Molière, who, like Valere, rose from street performer to the chief comic playwright of 17th Century France.

Baker pulls out the stops as Valere, and the script demands that he do so. During Act One, Valere delivers a nearly 30-minute monologue to showcase his supposed wit. Baker never lets the monologue stall. He creates a clown who prances around the stage, claiming "My tutor fell in love with me, of course" only to snap back with "Don't look at me as if I led him on." It's like watching the musician Tiny Tim frolic freely only to see him morph into Sam Kinison and berate everything around him. He is ridiculous but never boring.

The set design (uncredited in the program) offers an open space where Baker can play. The furniture is limited to chairs in each corner and a single round table, and Baker bounds on every piece. A single set of gold French doors in a cream colored upstage wall provides the main entrance and exit for all actors. Unfortunately, this means that almost every actor must use these doors and, in turn, creates a few tedious scene changes. Dr. Kristin Barbour's costume design is a muddled mix of contemporary and period pieces. Prince Costi looks like a perfect replica of Louis XIV, but Elomire's outfit is a modern black suit. Valere's ludicrous wig (gigantic even by period standards) sparks laughter, but rebellious teenage maid Dorine's wig is a bright green that clashes with every other costume. The other women are in fluorescent satin dresses that offer a 1960s "Mod" vibe seen nowhere else. The costumes feel like they are all from different shows.

Perhaps these contemporary costumes are supposed to link to the themes of the production. Near the end of the play, Babirak, who is a knockout as Elomire, has his defining moment. As everyone praises Valere's "sophomoric" work, Brabirak attacks the street performer, calling for a return to "deeper" art and bemoaning that this praise for such shallow work means "Mediocrity is all we know." In director Betsy Craig's program notes, she claims that mediocrity may not just be all we know but also be "all we want." She makes it clear in her notes that we should not seek a fun play just "because it pays well."

Craig opens the play by featuring every character but Valere in a series of tableaus set to music. The message is clear: these people are shallow, posturing fools, and they should not be followed. When the acting troupe sides with Valere, whose play creates the joy that Elomire's work lacks, they are made to feel like Judases instead of people with a legitimate point. Bejart (Patrick McElroy) offers a necessary compromise, but he and the rest of the troupe surround Elomire like sharks as he makes his point. Bejart becomes a sellout to his friend instead of a voice of reason. Craig's direction lauds over Elomire as a dramatic god, never stopping to see if, as the Prince suggests, his work may be stale. Likewise, she dismisses Valere as stupid and irrelevant without considering the merit of his humor.

The biggest issue with her take on the script? Elomire's speech condemns irreverent humor after a play full of irreverent, and often brilliant, humor. If Elomire is right, why did Grove City College choose to do this play? Is this production telling its audience that Molière offers nothing to the "serious" theatergoer? It tries to, but it doesn't succeed. Ultimately, David Hirson's script finds a happy balance between fun frivolity and serious critique. Not even Craig's directed dismissal of comedy can kill the fun of this show. If you can tolerate being scolded for laughing, this production is a lively romp that can leave you in stitches.

Evocative Spring

Jessica Hinds-Bond

Choreographed scenes of suicide, rape, masturbation, and abortion sound like bits from a new and purposefully-offensive fringe show, rather than moments from a play written over 100 years ago. Nevertheless, such scenes color Rowan University's production of Frank Wedekind's ever-controversial play Spring Awakening, translated and adapted by Douglas Langworthy. Composed of linked but non-linear scenes, and dealing with issues of love, friendship, sex, and the generational gap, Spring Awakening tells the story of 14-year old Melchior (Kevin Melendez), his best friend Moritz (Stephan Grande), and Melchior's first love Wendla (Arcadea Jenkins).

Spring Awakening explores the gulf between childhood and adulthood that must be traversed in the teenage years. Wendla and Melchior are treated as young children by the adults in their lives, as when Melchior's mother serves tea for him from a child's porcelain tea set and when Wendla's mother tries to tell her daughter how babies are made, only managing to moan open-mouthed that, "one must LOOOOOVE" a man. Monstrous masks illustrate the teenagers' impressions of the play's adults: while the school teachers' masks are enormous laugh-inducing creations of wrinkled flesh and dated hairstyles, the teenagers' mothers seem especially creepy in their featureless half-masks. Their recognizably human traits make them so much more discomforting than the alien-like teachers.

Rather than stagnant backdrops, Bart Healy's scenic design offers opposing atmospheric worlds that reinforce the play's themes. The first act takes place in a teenager-driven world of youthful promise, on a stage that is transformed into a multi-colored sea of flowers. Only two adults appear in this act; mothers of Wendla and Melchior, they seem strangely out-of-place in their grotesque partial masks. The second act, commencing just after Moritz commits suicide, presents the dead world of the grown-ups: the stage becomes a giant dirt-walled grave, the adults' masks become more outrageous, and it is the teenagers who are outnumbered. The grave arises from the stage after Moritz's suicide as if awakening to claim his body, formed from the undersides of the first act's flowered floor coverings. Identical blue children's tables and chairs are skillfully arranged by the actors to form everything from grave sites to household furniture, cutting down on scene change length and helping to unify the production.

The two acts of Spring Awakening feel like two completely different plays, the result of Lane Savadove's directing and Wedekind's bizarre script. The first act is full of life and energy even in the moments when someone is contemplating death, as near the end of the act when Grande constructs a pyramid out of six tables while holding the gun that he will use to kill himself. His friend Ilse (Michele Mizeski) flutters onto the stage, and the two climb either side of the pyramid to talk at its apex, reminding one of Emily and George atop the ladders in Our Town. The few encroachments of masked figures into the world are deliciously chilling, as when Melchior's mother Frau Gabor (Kelsey Malone) stands in a single spotlight at the stage's center, alluringly dressing herself in a full-black ensemble while reciting the letter that Mortiz is reading at the front corner of the stage.

In contrast, the abundance of ever-more-outrageous masks in the second act makes the action too awkwardly laughable rather than starkly beautiful as before. As the act opens, the six teachers appear in a line at the front of the stage, enacting a nightmarish scene full of faculty meeting trivialities, including a vote on whether a window in the room should be opened or left shut. The scene starts off funny and engaging but drags on for too long, a trait common to much of the second act.

The full ensemble is excellent in terms of movement throughout the production, with actors in many scenes working in perfect unison. Grande is the production's standout, portraying with sincerity a likeable boy frightened of failing in school and approaching sexual maturity.

Unfortunately, inconsistent vocal projection and sound-muffling masks sometimes render the production incomprehensible, as at the top of the second act when the six school teachers wear masks that vary from partial to full obstruction of the actors' faces. Another recurring and frustrating problem relates to the production's inventive blocking: actors often sit or lay in the flowers in the first act, rendering them invisible to audience members seated in the lower sections.

In spite of its faults, the solid ensemble work and the creative team's evocative staging make Spring Awakening a production not to be missed.

Tammy Bateman

A soldier returning from Iraq, a woman abandoned in a nursing home, and a photographer required to capture devastating images have one thing in common. They were all affected by the events of Hurricane Katrina. As the monologue On TV so clearly states, the tragedy was there for us to observe. Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues performed by The College of Brockport is a stunning string of stories shared by common people.

As the play opens, the character named Dead (Gloria Curet) immediately engages the audience. Her lazy posture, sloppy appearance, and a chewing accent give her the impression of your friendly, neighborhood porch talker. Curet's commanding performance sets the pace for the show and the actors that precede her.

Emerging from the audience, Stephanie Sauer stands out in her crisp dress clothes against the grungy state of those onstage. The comedy she weaves through this monologue of hopelessness is displayed in her strong stance and confident manner.

These are not the only standout performers. At the end of a beautifully written and fun monologue about the looting and coldness of human nature, Lindsay Fisher, playing the Photographer, hits the nerve of the entire play. In a series of monologues centered on pain and destruction, the photographer notices that among it all there are still compassionate people in the world. She vividly speaks of this moment she sees people who have lost everything, standing on a street covered in debris. The memory of that moment is not only playing in her head, but Fisher speaks the lines in a way that illustrates this. In a single line, she strikingly gives a chill when she speaks of a man standing among the defeated people of New Orleans. Not mourning his own losses but feeling for those who have lost much more, he plays his violin for the people who have nothing. As a character who up to this point is cynical of the country's behavior, she changes her once fidgety body language, and is now eerily still to deliver this saving grace among the rubble. While some actors are aided by Tom Flannery's writing to save their performances, Fisher takes the lines and makes them her own.

Paired with the equally stunning yet simple set of towering ladders of varying sizes, Colorblind is fascinating in all respects. Between each monologue the ensemble's graceful motions, directed by Maria Scipione connects the speakers' words to a visual display of struggle. Draped across ladders, young girls curled on the floor seeking shelter, and people holding one another, the ensemble embodies the experiences of those affected.

Colorblind is an eloquently written play that studies our commonalities in the face of struggle. An innocent child, an older man determined to remain in his home, and a observing from his roof all share one common factor. Compassion and selflessness for those just like themselves. If you're looking for a piece of theatre that is relatable in its discussion of this horrible event, while still flirting with a lighthearted tone, Colorblind will satisfy everyone's interest.

Love Not Hard to Find for this LabourP.S. Northrop

From the moment the burgundy, 19th century floral print program for Albright College's production of Love's Labour's Lost is placed in your hands, you just know you're in for a ridiculous and stylized experience. Indeed, the players and designers make good on the program's promise--delivering an ostentatious performance that makes fun not only of itself, but also the world that it comes from. Even if you hate the showier side of Shakespeare, this interpretation brings a delightful touch of youth that makes Love's Labour's Lost a worthwhile endeavor.

I mean, we all associate Shakespeare with pastel tights under padded doublets for men and colorful dresses so large they threaten to take up an entire stage for women. This approach to attire is source of ridicule that all modern productions of the bard's tales have to face. Albright College seems to be acutely aware of this as they take their characters to the stage of the Merriam Theater. The costumes that Tiffany Hernandez and her stichers create for some of the roles capture their essence perfectly.

Most notable of these character-costume parings lies with David Darrow's portrayal of Don Adriano de Armando. First off, his attire, fabricated from a deep purple velvet with golden veins woven in throughout, makes him the most flamboyantly dressed character. Darrow's deep voice, powerful projection and pathetic attempts at high status all pair off with the costume stitch for statement.

Of course, Darrow's performance would be a little much if he wasn't toned down and mocked by his fellow actors. The witty interchanges between Biron (Billy Balmer) and Rosaline (Audrey Biser) along with the emotional proclamations of Ferdinand (Andrew Dell) all provide substance to pair with the play's overt style.

Dell is eloquent and unshakably high-status, standing perfectly upright and practically gliding across the stage as he delivers his verse--with his only setback being his inability to create volume in the Merriam Theater's space. Biser has the same volume troubles, although she makes up with this with her quick wit and expressive physicality. With a quick flip of her hair and a swish of her enormous pink dress, she deftly forces Balmer's character fall head over heels and, in using her body, earns that love more than any of the other actresses. Along those lines, another trouble with any Shakespearian story is the notion of "love at first sight" where one simple glance is enough to get two people inexorably infatuated with one another. In Love's Labour's Lost, this tired undertaking is repeated four times over with four different pairs of people (and that's only in the main focus characters, the four noble noblemen of Navarre and the ladies of France). Director Julia Matthews deals with this problem with uproarious blocking. All eight of the noble men and women are lined up when they first meet. Pair by pair, they walk up to each other, abruptly fall in love, and then quickly jump out of line so that the next couple may tumble for each other in rapid succession. This leads to one of the performance's bigger laughs, and firmly establishes that the show isn't afraid to lampoon its origins.

But it would be a disappointment if the fun stopped with the actors and the blocking wouldn't it? Wayne E. Vettleson and his technical crew also get their chance to have a good time throughout the piece--specifically right before intermission. The four main men of the show have just been disheartened in their quest to attain the hearts of their female counterparts. However, Balmer is quick to rise up on a soapbox and rally the troops. His command over the text seems effortless and his voice reverberates throughout the whole of the Merriam as he starts his motivational oration. It gets to the point where his accent and manner of speech resemble every single cliché' inspirational monologue we've seen in the movies. Just when this dynamic is about to become groan-worthy, a dramatic yellow light washes over Balmer while an overly powerful arrangement of violins and brass comes belting out of the speakers. Cue five minutes of laughter.

All of this silliness goes down amongst a minimal yet vivid set. In the foreground there are white trees cut out of paper and adorned with Arabic looking calligraphy ascending to the ceiling on the right and rigid Corinthian columns topped with white busts of fierce philosophers to the left. Behind this there hangs a big 'ol white sheet that lights change the color of depending on the mood of the scene.

The sum of all these elements is something to behold. This production uses exuberant style and humor to create a uniquely absurd event that one just doesn't want to get out of. You're likely to hold on to that glitzy program for some time afterward, just so you can remember this gem of a production.

Love' not 'Lost' in New Production of Shakespeare By Shawn Arnold

Who wants to watch a boring old British play? Nothing is more of a snooze fest to a contemporary audience than a stuffy portrayal of the classics. George Bernard Shaw, whose main body of plays was only released less than 100 years ago, had the assistance of Lerner and Loewe to keep one of his plays fresh in the 50's. If Shaw is an issue, the Bard trumps them all. Too many productions of Shakespeare's works are often stilted and hackneyed. Albright College, however, does not follow down this boring path. The Domino Players Theatre Company of the college presents an uproariously flirtatious production of Bill's "Love's Labour's Lost."

A play about love, learning, flirtation, and the battle of the sexes, Shakespeare's naughty, sexual humor is peppered throughout the piece. Ferdinand, young King of Navarre (Andrew Dell), and three guys in his court swear off chicks to get some learning done. These studies are soon interrupted when the hotties from the French court show up. When love letters the dudes sent in the mail get mixed up and go to the wrong chics, the ladies decided to mess with the guys by forcing the gents to confuse which girl is which.

Trumpets swell. The foolish Biron delivers a bravado filled speech like John Wayne, essentially telling his buddies, "Lets Go Get'um Pilgrims." This is all the motivation the King and his men need to go after the hot mammas. Billy Balmer's Biron, foolish friend of the King, translates to a modern audience. Balmer maintains the integrity of the verse, yet takes liberties with the delivery and rate to make this jokester flesh out. Billy delivers his lines at the speed of thought, never allowing himself to simply recite the verse which would make it artificial, poetry and not a play.

Some characters do allow the words to entrap and alter their performances. The French ladies all fall into this net, but Lauren Murray's Princess of France completely gets lost this speech. She does a beautiful job at reading the poetry, but she has some issue making it become real and alive. The "Frenchies" all do, however, sport their sex appeal well in snaring the King and his gents. Although occasionally stiff in her dialog with the ladies, Audrey Biser's Rosaline is especially vivaciously flirty in her dealings with Ferdinand and Biron.

Comic relief from the already funny love affairs is readily available via the rustic characters. Their wacky, slap-stick antics provide much needed physical humor. The play that these characters perform for the two courts is absolutely hilarious. Although all of the rustics are fun, two are above the rest. First is Andre Forbes-Ezeugwu's Costard. Andre gives a really effective modern edge to the peasant Costard. By allowing modern inflection into his speech, this Costard is a blast to watch.

And now the man, the myth, the artist currently known as Don Adriano de Armado. David Darrow's portrayal of Armado oozes bombastic troubadour in such a larger than life character. Darrow is absolutely side-splittingly funny as this Spaniard with his ridiculous lilt and his over the top physicality.

A wonderful playground for the actors in pastel shades and white, the set is a world divided. On one side the city, with its solid white pillars and chain dividers, is where the men are in control. It is an orderly place. The other side is the forest. Being the exact opposite of the city, it is delicate and fluid. The trees are parchment with beautiful script scrawled across. This is the domain of the women where their seduction is in control. Designer Lisi Stoessel did a wonderful job of distinguishing these two worlds on stage, both physically and symbolically.

Although the costume pieces are right out of Elizabethan England, this is not detracting at all from the immediacy of the piece. In fact, the costume design by Paula Trimpey is vivid, elaborate, and helps to draw you into and believe in these characters. Armado's ridiculous, velvety costume displays the equally absurd character.

Albright College's production of "Love's Labour's Lost" makes Shakespeare fresh and sexy for a modern audience. The production really is a must see. If you are a student who just started up the new semester and already feel, "What is the end of study, let me know?" as Biron laments in the first act, take some time off to see this exhilarating, spicy play. Bring a "special" guest. With only a little "Labour" you may get some "Love" with little money "Lost."

La Bete, You Bet!

Savannah Ganster

"Precocious? Try PHENOMENAL!" Okay, maybe I stole that line from David Hirson's La Bȇte, but it's the best way to describe this show, performed by Grove City College at the Art's Bank Theatre. Don't believe me? Ask the audience. They offered up the first standing ovation of this year's American College Theatre Festival for an invited production.

Imagine Alice in Wonderland set at the Palace of Versailles in extreme Technicolor... this is the opening scene of La Bete. The highly stylized set with a shining chandelier, a black and white checkered floor, and walls of creams and gold, contrasts with the stark background of a skeletal stage. The majority of its skirts, scrims and curtains are removed with every single gelled light revealed to the audience's eyes. Since La Bete is a show about the theatre, the manner in which the set appears upon the stage is a clever reinforcement of that theme. It's a reminder that this is a theatre within a theatre within a theatre.

Douglas Baker's Valere, the star of the show, is incredible. Baker vibrantly delivers a manic, delusional, self-absorbed, riotous twenty-two minute monologue. The monologue, which occupies thirty pages of script, is delivered furiously and flawlessly as Baker runs around the stage with the most intense energy seen so far during this festival's productions. As this monologue unfolds, it is clear that the character of Valere is a pretentious idiot who is given to long bouts of logorrhea and word invention. He is like a redneck in a country club parading around in a black wig reminiscent of culture icon Russell Brand's signature rat-nest hair, a drab fur-lined coat, a decaying lace cravat, a tunic that could double as a stained burlap sack, tweed knickers, cheddar orange tights and scuffed white golf shoes. For his idiocy and commonality, Valere is rejected by the elitist royal-court tenured acting troupe's leader, Elomire (Pierce Babirak), as he seeks acceptance into the troupe. Baker shines throughout the entire piece as he wins the other characters over with Valere's stupidity.

Jesse Aukeman's excessively frivolous, flamboyant, and effeminate Prince Conti is a hit! Aukeman gives his character the perfect amount of shallowness to come across as a bored and misinformed member of royalty. Also, he offers expressions with his powdered and rouged face which clearly communicate Prince Conti's emotions throughout the play. Aukeman's strengths as an actor allow him to show Prince Conti's intended weaknesses as a character in a deft manner.

However, despite the fabulosity (if Valere can invent words, so can I) of both Baker and Aukeman, actor Jennifer Ford stole the spotlight on several occasions. Ford plays the role of Dorine, a seventeen year old maid with toxic green hair who speaks only in rhyming monosyllabic words like, "blue," "two," "new," and "shoe." As she totters across the stage on her toes playing charades with the other characters, while looking coquettishly from Elomire to Valere as they argue, Dorine endears. Ford is quite certainly a very strong actor, for only a strong actor could steal the spotlight from Baker and Aukeman without saying more than ten different words through the course of this show.

In addition to the cast's strength, the costume director Dr. Kristen Barbour compiled the brightest and most elegant costumes (excluding Valere's costume) seen yet at the ACTF this year. Despite Valere's purposely gaudy costume, all of the costumes manage to complement each other. With vibrant satin dresses and matching makeup, Barbour attains costume perfection.

Not to be left out, La Bete director, Professor Betsy Craig, navigates Hirson's amazing script, written in rhyming couplets, to create this phenomenal word ballet. It asks the poignant questions, "What is art? Is it something superficial, or is it deep? If one expects mediocrity rather than excellence, can one ever be disappointed in the outcome of the truly mediocre or substandard? Is society declining so much that we have lost true art and instead embraced drivel?" However, this production manages a great feat and asks these questions through unparalleled hilarity and outrageousness. Rather than staring bleakly at a show dealing with such heavy themes, the audience laughs until their sides hurt and then they laugh some more.

La Bete, at once uproariously entertaining and saucy, is proof that PHENOMENAL art still exists.

A Dying Clown

Amy E. Martin

What do we want in theater and when is it good? From Plato to now, theater presents these enduring questions. The current Grove City College 's comedic production of LaBête attempts to answer what is good art and the performance scoff at Moliere glides above mediocre imitation. However, without the program note "what is good art" the question of theater as entertainment or moral instruction is nonexistent. Instead, the duality of witty humor and its rhythm creates a fast paced production where exorbitant luxury and absurdity are contradicted by the arch-lacking performance.

A Madonna inspired "Vogue strike a pose" movement introduces the cast, and is magnified by a 17th century style overture with sounds of playfully plucked strings. Beginning with a spotlight on the cast, vibrant snapshots emerge in a speedy, quirky gambol. As a grandiose chandelier glimmers above a black and white checkered floor the inherent contradictions of the set and Betsy Craig's direction become apparent; this is the world of LaBête!

Patron of the arts Prince Conti(Jesse Aukeman) demands a new track from his renowned acting troupe leader Elomire (Pierce Babirak), who intern is contradicted by a street performer Valere(Douglas Baker) and the wordy romp of the play speeds off. Elomire stands tall with slick hair and overwhelming eyebrows, and his gapping goldfish mouth delivers each line in crippling arrogance. In addition, he is too detached from the rest of the set, because of his narrow and morose black costume, that his presence appears dark and sinister in comparison to the rest of the cast. Elomire remains on stage for the nearly the entire play his voice inflection and body language become too obvious after the first thirty minutes, and he neglects to draw positive attention for the remainder of the production.

On the other side of the spectrum, Valere (Douglas Baker) is so full of foppish energy that the egotistical nature of the character engulfs the production in "verbobo;" an imaginary word referring to the spirit of words. Orange tights, Halloween costume textured fabric, and a massive-scrambled wig uses the comedy of manners as a focal point for Baker's narcissism. Playwright David Hirson has written Valere's character with an overbearing presence, which accumulates in a nearly thirty minute monologue on theater aesthetic, morality, and it both charms and confuses the viewer. Tragically, Baker was unable to maintain the exuberant charisma that he reached in his opening monologue for the entire production. He delivered no progression of intensity and his performance became a comedy drawing strong correlations of Biz Markie's "Just a Friend."

In addition the flat world of the set neglects awe inspiring sublimity, because it refuses to uphold the tempo of the production: perhaps a reason that no set designer is listed? It is too obvious in its inspiration and lacks depth. On the side of being overly symbolic the grandiose nature of the production is seen in the chandelier while the morality and rationality of theater hold strong within the confining lines of the black and white floor.

Dr. Kristin Barbour's costumes also lack any cohesive quality: from Elomire's and Valere's mentioned earlier to a comparison of the rest of the ensemble a confusing mesh of humor, texture, and extreme color pallet emerges. They are bright, spunky, fun, and illogical, but rationality for the decisions is not fulfilled by the performances. The costumes define the character instead of the more powerful opposite. This is particularly seen in the character of Dorine, who appears to be Alice in Wonderland on Absinthe. She articulates one syllable rhymes like "blue, true, new, and shoe" and wears a maids outfit with florescent lime green tights and hair, but seems unnecessary and insignificant to the plays progression.

LaBête reaches its peak in Valere's performance of the "Dying Clown" it becomes clear that the theatricality of the production has overpowered its significance. The sassy, Moliere mockery cheapens the intention of developing a dialectical conversation about art, because after an hour and a half of mindless laughter and ramblings the performance is unable to obtain depth.

Taking a refreshing yet cliché turn from absurdity to morality Elomire attempts to explain that good art is not merely what entertains, but what transforms. However, the greatest problem in the production arises here; because by this point Elomire's sinister nature has been unapparent within the rocket paced narcissism of Valere. Overall, the production neglects to successfully define "What good art really is," but it does enthusiastically amuse and brighten a long day.

Tags:

Later today, I'll post the students' final reviews so you can have the pleasure of critiquing the critics, but first, without further ado, our merry--though exhausted--men and women, in their own words. P.S.: Ralph Leary (at left), who shows up in a couple of the entries, is the National Critics Institute Coordinator for Region II, and a professor of English at Clarion College in Clarion, Pa.

Jennifer Ford

I liken the past 60 hours to the first time I ever put contact lenses in my eyes: the National Critics Institute experience has sharpened my focus for watching and thinking about theater. Charged with the job of critiquing the shows in the festival, I found myself paying closer attention to a show's costuming, lighting, and set design, whereas in the past I was mostly attentive to the acting. The teaching also unveiled to me the absolute requirement for a critic to back up every assertion they make about a show. To do this, I had to practice cataloging a show's memorable moments and producing them as evidence to my claims.

The challenge to describe theater in fresh, crisp language and to choose the most important points to put on paper is harder than I thought. It has been especially humbling to work side by side peers who picked up the skills quicker than I did. At the same time, I deem "most valuable" the chopping-block class feedback sessions where every student had a chance to chime in and point out strengths/flaws in each other's writing. It was a safe environment for evaluation because we not only shared our amateur status, but we mutually understood that all of us were here to learn and grow.

Both Wendy Rosenfield and Ralph Leary have been gems: encouraging, witty, and specifically helpful. The only thing that would make this experience better is a longer week.

Jessica Hinds-Bond

The NCI schedule reminds me of tech weekends spent at the theatre, both in that we're so incredibly busy (over 12 hours on Thursday), and in how much is accomplished in such a short time period. Between attending critics sessions and performances, writing responses, and commuting to and from Center City every day, calling the program "intensive" would be an understatement. In spite of the long hours, I'm definitely enjoying the experience. I'm learning to approach theatrical performance in a new way, and getting to try my hand at some non-academic writing for a change. The sessions with my fellow critics have been fantastic because the broad range of backgrounds and interests enriches the discussion. I've noticed immediate improvement in my writing, and I have learned so much about the different ways in which critics, audiences, and theatre artists approach reviews.

Devin Dippold

One of my long-standing issues as a theatregoer was a tendency to be too kind to the performance. Rather than state my opinions honestly, I chose to either soften or outright conceal any strong criticism I had for a production. That attitude had to change at the NCI conference. It was one thing to say kind words about a production when your words were just those of a typical audience member. When you are supposed to provide expert commentary, however, kindness isn't really in the job description.

Learning to express my critical ideas wasn't so much a long discovery process as it was a rapid change. I had to say what I felt. I had to present an honest review every day, and it had to be driven by something real. If I hated a show, I couldn't just pretend it was good; I had to be honest with myself and admit that it was bad. It sounds simple enough now, but I just never let myself think that way. Now, I've found it impossible to go back to being nice. I tried during today's productions (which I am not reviewing) to relax and just enjoy the shows. Instead, I found myself critiquing everything onstage. Why is there a blackout here? Why is the pacing slow there? I can't turn it off anymore. And I don't want to, either.

P.S. Northrop

When we arrived at the Doubletree Hotel for the ACTF conference I picked up the keys for myself and my three other roommates.

'What's our room number?" One of the guys--Sam--asked in the lobby as I handed him his key.

"Uhh..." I looked at the little pamphlet I'd been given. "1408" I said.

"...The haunted hotel movie?" Gilliam asked.

I stopped--trying to think. A group of other conference participants sitting at a couch near us and clearly eavesdropping suddenly burst out laughing. Sure enough, there's a horror movie entitled 1408 where an evil hotel room all but eats John Cusack.

We took this in stride, figuring there was no such thing as evil hotel rooms. But, sure enough, the next day another roommate turned on the tv and what else was on the screen but Jon Cusack getting told by Samuel Jacksion that room 1408 was evil. We'd been there a day and already the place was fucking with us.

This forms part of the reason why I'm glad I got involved with the National Critics Institute competition here at the festival. I leave my hotel room every morning, turning to my roommates and saying "Don't die...please", at 9 and usually don't return until about 11 at night. 1408 doesn't get much of chance to hate me.

But really--NCI proves to be an incredible experience, haunted hotel rooms aside. Theater criticism is a beautiful mashup of the rigid journalistic world and the ethereal land of the theatre. Most of my counterparts have come from the theatre side of the collision, whereas I am the stuffy journalist of the group. I'm pretty sure this makes me the luckiest member of our little band, as I am surrounded with brilliantly minded actor-types with huge knowledge of the stage and all the crazy shit that goes on behind it. I've learned more in the past few days than I did in a good half of my last semester. I love the thirst for knowledge and the need to write displayed by all of these guys.

And all the while, I've been on an endless stress-high since about midday Wednesday. I love deadlines, the way they inexorably approach, threatening to wash over you, whether or not you and your writing are ready for them or not. I thrive off of that sense of urgency--because when I'm writing furiously, I swear it's one of the few times where I truly feel alive. It's the worlds greatest feeling--and the style of theater criticism allows you to let loose the chains that boring ol'regular journalism nomrall imposes on you. I love this writing, I love this festival, and not even room 1408 destroying us could take away the joy of it.

Yeah, sure--that end was abrupt, but if I didn't stop you know I would go on, reaching (and most likely surpassing) Valare-lengths. And no one wants that.

Until next time, kids.

Shawn Arnold

So I have to sneak back into classes Tuesday. On top of that I have to make up the things I missed this week(thank you). Ouch! However, I couldn't have asked for a more educational, more fun reason to miss than NCI. Although time consuming, it was such a free and thought provoking process, yet it was so much fun. It was such a relief to find a group of individuals who can actually talk about theater in more than "good" or "bad." I mean is that too hard to ask for? Also I have learned a ton about how important it is to remain concise when writing a review. The harsh world of editorial criticism has it limits on article size, and this forces the writer to keep the meat and remove the fluff. I have got to thank Wendy for her guidance in this process. I especially must thank her for helping me find my voice a bit more in my writing. Plus she is a fan of The Office and Flight of the Conchords which makes her the coolest person ever. Major props Wendy! Anyways this week has been such a wonderful experience. Thanks to everyone involved!

Amy Martin

The overall effect of the NCI workshop experience has reestablished my personal relationship to theater. Having entered the world of criticism from an interest in dramaturgy I believed the class would improve my analytical skills, but the effect is much deeper. Although I love dramaturgy and working with the text, I found myself in conflict with many of the directorial choices and learning critical writing skills has provided an outlet for my beliefs. While watching a production, the arrogance that I once felt for defending a script has faded and been replaced by a more objective critical eye. Being a critic at the KCACTF festival has been a life-altering experience, for which I am entirely grateful. In addition, working in a writing class has brought attention to my writing style and technique. The great part about being a student is the ability to try new things and expand as an individual.

Savannah Ganster

So, I came to the American College Theatre Festival in Philadelphia this week expecting to sit in on playwriting workshops. Instead, I ended up participating in the National Critics Institute workshops. I know, I know... It's slightly shocking that I'd rather learn to be a theatre critic and review invited productions, than attend the playwriting workshops that I had looked so forward to. But fear not, the shock ends there.

The NCI workshops have been amazing! I feel like I've bonded with people who understand the theatre and who aren't afraid to write about their opinions. Regardless of the bad rap generally assigned to theatre critics, I can assure you that none of the nine people sharing this room with me throughout the NCI workshops are the asshole type. In fact, they've become some of the most supportive peers that I've known. As we sit in our workshop sessions critiquing our play reviews from the night before, no one is afraid to share their work. We provide each other with words of encouragement and constructive criticism and laugh and joke and talk theatre.

I couldn't have learned more about the journalistic art of review throughout the duration of this festival had I tried. Wendy and Professor Leary, our mentors, are treasure troves of knowledge concerning critiquing theatre. They've provided a great amount of support and criticism to aid us in our journeys as critics and as writers.

Despite the fact that I didn't attend any playwriting workshops, I feel as though my writing abilities have been nurtured and have grown. Everything that I've learned through the NCI workshops can be taken and applied to what I know about playwriting, which means that I've learned more than how to be an effective critic while I'm here. I've learned how to be an effective critic, how to be a better playwright, how to hone the art of writing into the veins of journalism, creative writing, etc., and how to let my unique voice of authority shine through all of my writing.

Tammy Bateman

I sat down on the first day of this week with the National Critic's Institute and I was incredibly overwhelmed. I am not comfortable with others reading my writing. I am a performer and therefore somewhat fearful of critics. So what brought me to this particular workshop at the festival? Well, with a small attempt at theatre criticism (more praising than criticizing due to the nature of the program) in high school, I thought that this could be another chance to learn this profession in a more serious way. And boy was it! I was not prepared for the amount of work and difficulty I would have trying to keep up with the other, more advanced writers in the workshop. But once I got past my initial discouragement, I was able to find the positive in this situation, as I try with all things. For one, my colleagues weren't condemning me for my short comings. They were all surprisingly supportive of my meager attempts at a few reviews, (and let's remember that they're aspiring critics--so now I know they really are nice people even if they may be critical in their writing). Aside from that, as an actor, listening in on what the critics look at can be majorly beneficial. While a review may be informative, in this environment I got the chance to listen to everyone's opinions (and not in 500 words or less) and really hear what they look for. I have a newfound admiration for this profession and what these writers do. I now understand the effort they put into their work. While I may have realized that maybe this career isn't for me, I've experienced a week of yet another part of this wonderful business and that counts as a success in my book!

Later on, our brave word-warriors will tell you just what transpired for them here at the National Critics Institute. But first, a quickie look at the moments that made SUNY Brockport's production of Tom Flannery's Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues, sink or swim. Coolest part? Everyone chose a different moment. However, two students went so different that they wrote about Rowan University's production of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening (P.S. Northrop) and Grove City College's production of David Hirson's La Bete (Jessica Hinds-Bond)instead. Who knew we had two Kenleys hiding out behind their laptops?

The assignment: tell us exactly when the production crystallized (or fell apart), and tell us in a way that unifies the rest of your (ghost) review.

Tammy Bateman

At the end of a beautifully written and fun monologue about the looting and coldness of human nature in despair, Lindsay Fisher, in "Photographer," hits the nerve of the entire play. In a series of monologues centered on pain and destruction, the photographer notices that among it all there are still compassionate people in the world. She vividly speaks of this moment she sees people who have lost everything, standing on a street covered in debris. The memory of that moment is not only playing in her head, but Fisher speaks the lines in a way that illustrates this, and in a single line, she strikingly gives a chill when she speaks of a man, playing his violin for the people who have nothing. As a character who up to this point is cynical of the country's behavior, she changes her body language and speech to deliver this saving grace among the rubble. While some actors are aided by Tom Flannery's writing to save their performances, Fisher takes the lines and makes them her own.

Devin Dippold

During the monologue "Hold Out," an older Ninth Ward resident (played by Maxwel Anderson) explains his actions by stating his lifelong philosophy. Anderson rocks slowly back and forth in his chair on the porch he built at the house he has lived in for over 50 years. He states "Harry Truman once said, 'If you want a friend in this world, get a dog.' So I got one." Anderson, in that line, sums up the problems that this play attacks. After the levees break, the New Orleans characters are left to fend for themselves. A woman waits in a nursing home for help that isn't coming. A soldier comes home from Iraq to no home and no prospects. A man spraypaints "By all means, take your effing time" on his roof after being stranded for days. All help has abandoned the Katrina victims, and only people like Anderson's character, who refuses any offer of help, thrive. The government has proven Harry Truman right.

Shawn Arnold

A 30-something Bostonian woman stands desperately clutching her peacoat. She stares anxiously out contemplating the worst. A mingled look of torment and disgust lingers upon her face. Her brow furrows in concern as she utters, "Am I the only person in America watching?" She is heartbrokenly mourning the general lack of concern America has for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is but one persona in Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues, an account of the devastation and the reaction to the terrible tragedy in New Orleans.

Savannah Ganster

The camera points and clicks as the victims of Hurricane Katrina struggle to stay alive. A gangbanger standing in a pink fur coat in the water... Click. A dope addict with a looted television. Click... Every image of the struggling, dying people of New Orleans that might be newsworthy... CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! Nothing's sacred anymore, especially not when a photographer can look at someone in need, snap a shot and turn away in search of the next emotion-invoking image, unaffected. And then, the music rises: a single violin, agonizingly sweet and hopeful, cutting through the death and despair within the Superdome. The photographer (Lindsay Fisher) sees the violinist in the midst of destruction, the perfect image, and then she turns and walks away without even focusing her camera upon him. Serenading hope in the restoration of humanity, charity and New Orleans, this scene is Colorblind's moment of perfection.

Amy Martin

"We all know the water's color blind... Are you? As Gloria Curet delivered the line in her second monologue, "Dead Again," her implications horrified. What it means to be color blind became a question demanding an answer. Her lips moved as if she tried to cover a decaying mouth, the inflections jived, but then... Realizing that the sound associations and additional imagery came from the fact that the actor was black. Does being color blind mean ignoring? No, this constitutes a Reagan definition of racial justice, and being 20 years post his era one would expect progress from Americans. However, the haunting imagery of her dead figure bouncing, laughing and cackling, while reciting establishes a new relationship to race. If New Orleans emerges rebuilt without the projects, what repercussions does this truly have? Colorblind: The Katrina Monologues is a new play where these very questions tell us about ourselves and the American nation.

P.S. Northrop

But then the second act begins, and suddenly all of these flaws get amplified tenfold. Rather than focus on the beauty of childhood innocence, the play steers it's eyes towards the monstrous structure that is the adult world. In that very first scene after intermission, all of the characters on stage are wearing hideous winkled and warted multicolor masks. They mainly communicate in hoots and hollers and guttural repetitive chants. The malignant mature ones in the play are supposed to inspire fear and disgust in the viewers--but instead the ridiculous way the players portray their repellent roles leads the majority of the audience to laughter. These bellowing cackles reverberate throughout the Merriam and add to the din that the actors on stage are creating. The result is pandemonium. You are unsettled, you are nervous. This piles on top of the fact that you cannot hear what's being said clearly onstage thanks to shoddy projection. The whole production takes on the cloudy confusing aura of a dream. You know something absolutely dreadful is going on but your inability to effectively process it only adds to the terror. Surely, for the entirety of it's latter half, this presentation of Spring Awakening plunges you into the depths of some ungodly nightmare--whether it intends to or not. And--finally--when the lights go out at the end of that show, you will be afraid of that dark.

Jessica Hinds-Bond

Like a cocaine-induced rendition of Carrottop, Jim Carey, and Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice, a lanky man in a badly disheveled long brown wig paces around the stage, spouting words in a stream-of-consciousness that is periodically punctuated by self-described caterwauling, showcasing his particular talent for over-dramatic posturing and playing for cheap laughs. In the midst of this more than 20-minute monologue, Valere (Douglas Baker) suddenly grabs a white handkerchief, and begs the others onstage to "Gag me with this handkerchief, alright?" Mercilessly, neither of the other men obliges him in his request, and he continues his shrieking unabated. Really? This man represents the future of the theatre?

Savannah Ganster, Tammy Bateman and Amy Martin quietly rain down the pain in their ledes. And also illustrate why that MTV Rolling Stone intern reality show didn't exactly make compelling television.

Here's the deal: the students saw two productions last night--Penn State Altoona's Big Love, by Charles Mee, and SUNY Oswego's Honor and the River, by Anton Dudley. They wrote full reviews, turned them in this morning and were either critiqued into submission or inspiration, and perhaps some combination of the two. So I'm not going to post those full reviews here.

Instead, have a look at these ledes for today's production of Love's Labour's Lost (brought to the festival by Albright College) and tell our critics whether they've made you want to read more or if you've seen all you need to see of either review or production.

Love's Labour's Ledes

Devin Dippold

Battle lines are drawn. On one side stands a wild forest, filled with lovers frolicking. On the other side stand three columns, atop which the busts of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates look down upon all they "see." A man under their watchful eye partitions off these columns from the rest of the world. The Domino Players' production of Love's Labour's Lost prepares two sides for war, but does anyone really want to fight?

Jessica Hinds-Bond

A forest of lanky paper trees covered in cursive handwriting dots the stage. Three grown men hide unseen behind a narrow pillar, a skeletal podium, and a short bench. Women of radically different heights, dresses, and hair accessories don eye-masks and exchange scarves, fooling their lovers into proposing to the surrogate women. Sudden news of a parent's death spurs four betrothals and a happy ending. Only in Shakespeare are such things possible. In the Albright College Domino Players' production of Love"s Labour's Lost, they are not only possible but compelling and magical.

Shawn Arnold

Who wants to watch a boring old British play? Nothing is less entertaining to a contemporary audience than a stuffy portrayal of the classics. George Bernard Shaw, whose bulk of work is less than a century old, had the assistance of Lerner and Loewe to keep one of his plays fresh in the 50's. If Shaw is an issue, the Bard trumps them all. Too many productions of Shakespeare's works are often stilted and hackneyed. Albright College, however, does not follow down this boring path. The Domino Players Theatre Company of the college presents an uproariously flirtatious production of Bill's Love's Labour's Lost.

Savannah Ganster

The stage is set. Tall white trees shadowed with calligrapher's script create a poetic forest, which sets the mood for an elegant Shakespearian production, thanks to scenic design by Lisi Stoessel. Cue the classical music. Enter the characters dressed in their period costumes, courtesy of Paula Trimpey. As this show begins, so does the teeth gritting. Albright College Domino Players' presentation of Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare at the Merriam Theatre in Philadelphia makes for some laborious viewing.

Tammy Bateman

As The Domino Players of Albright College so wonderfully portrayed, Love's Labour's Lost is a hilarious comedy about friendship, knowledge, and love. Filled with misguided courtships to make even a modern day soap opera seem simple, William Shakespeare's comedy shows four Lords of Navarre together in their pursuit of the noble ladies of France. The solidarity displayed by the Domino Players' ensemble is not only necessary for such a production, but executed with believability and success.

P.S. Northrop

From the moment the burgundy, 19th century floral print program for Albright College's production of Love's Labour's Lost is placed in your hands, you just know you're in for a ridiculous and stylized experience. Indeed, the players and designers of that show make good on the program's promise--delivering an ostentatious performance that makes fun not only of itself, but of the world that it comes from. Even if you hate the showier side of Shakespeare, this interpretation brings a delightful touch of youthful immaturity that makes Love's Labour's Lost a worthwhile endeavor.

Amy Martin

The current production of William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, by William Shakespeare, at the Merrian Theater in Philadelphia, works to ensure that the language is not a hindrance for the cast. The Albright University production features strong voices and distinct faces that successfully carry the weighty language, but the production neglects to incorporate the actors onto the set, which causes the two separate levels to emerge. Director Julia Matthews' blocking creates a silhouette drama where the actors appear foreign to the space, as if their heads are detached from their bodies.

Next time on Everyone's a Critic

Tomorrow marks our last full day for classes and theatergoing, and Saturday is judgement day, though you wouldn't know it by the way this group encourages and gently critiques each other. It's all very un-Real World, and frankly, kind of disappointing, but UArts wouldn't give us a hot tub, so I guess that's that.

Friday I'll post the results of another short exercise, and Saturday the full reviews will be up so you can help decide who gets the comp. Our winner then heads to the Kennedy Center for its College Theater Festival, and the winner at that event--who will be judged on the review they've written here--heads up to New England for a sweet two-week getaway (that is, if your definition of "getaway" is "really hard work" ) at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Critics Institute. It's pretty astonishing that there are still students motivated enough by their love of the arts to want to buck the trend and spend their free time trying to master this craft in what may be the most difficult moment of its evolution. I hope you'll encourage them to continue exploring this uncertain--but certainly worthwhile--path.

Shawn Arnold. He's so our Suede. Ok, not really, but get a load of this crazy action shot!

Day one, and we already have a casualty. Justin Fitzpatrick, whom you met in the last entry, bowed out with a good excuse--he'll be appearing in the festival's production of Love's Labour's Lost. Our ranks are now down to an enthusiastic five students.

The first assignment I've given to my Critics Institute participants is one that should be familiar to plenty of writers who entered the job market in the 1990s and later (and also to those re-entering the market after a layoff or buyout): write me a query letter for a feature on some aspect of theater in your community. The assignment reflects the reality of a critics' work in these uncertain times. I don't think there's a critic working today who still has the luxury of sitting back and turning in nothing but reviews, and by the time these students graduate, the position of "full-time staff reviewer" will have taken on the quaint, instructive patina that used to accompany the term "buggy-whip salesman." Editors, freelancers, staffers, theater professionals, please let them know what you think of their ideas, and feel free to weigh in with anything else they ought to know about their potential profession.

Query 1

Dear (Editor),

Although the works of Shakespeare are brilliant and eternal, why is it

that the works of the Bard seem to be the sole source of dramatic

literature available to US high school students? If it wasn't for an

accelerated 10th grade English class and an AP English calss, I

personally wouldn't have have been introduced to the works of Miller,

Ibsen, and Chekhov. The same cannot be said of the typical academic

student at my former high school

I would like to offer you the approximately 1,200 to 1,300 word

article, "The Exile of Dramatic Lit in American High Schools."

Generally it will discuss how the exclusion of dramatic literature in

high schools is systematically hampering the education of students. For

instance:

1. Drama polishes the mind: This is the cognitive benefits to studying

drama.

2. Drama fosters understanding: This includes the empathetic and

sympathetic benefits to the studies of drama.

3. Drama engages the students: This discusses how drama can bring

students literally into the world of a piece of literature.

4. You think all modern drama is inappropriate? Have you read "Romeo

and Juliet?": This final section discusses the fallibility of the

argument that modern drama is inappropriate by taking a look at the

seedier side of the typical, sole high school exposure to dramatic

literature.

This subject really fascinates me because I am both working on a degree

in secondary education, and I have a vested interest in dramatic

literature (also being an acting major). I really hope that you find

this topic intriguing. I look forward to your response. I really think

that with the current atmosphere of negativity towards standardized

testing this article is quite applicable. I can get this article to you

within 3 to 4 weeks of receiving the green light. I cannot wait to hear

from you.

Sincerely,

Shawn Arnold

Query 2

Dear Ms. Rosenfield:

The issue concerning the updating of classic works of drama confronts any theatre seeking to bring the works of great playwrights of the past to a contemporary audience. Even when a change unlocks new elements of the text, some viewers may find it off-putting to see a great work so "twisted." Yet Mauckingbird Theatre Company is breaking new ground in how to capture the spirit of classic playwrights while applying their texts to their own struggles. Their productions of The Misanthrope, R+J, and Hedda Gabler strive to examine gay culture and its place in our society.

I'd like to offer you an 800 word article titled "Reinterpretation Done Right." This article delves into how Mauckingbird Theatre Company has managed to find ways to make these classic works so relevant to the social themes and issues facing the gay community. The piece looks both at how these productions reinterpret the plays and how they critique our own culture. It specifically discusses the following:

Mauckingbird Theatre Company does not impose ideas upon the text. Rather, it links the themes central to these classic works to their own passions as artists and people.

The Misanthrope proves that Mauckingbird is willing both to critique society as a whole and, more specifically, gay society. Just as Moliere's criticism comes from a hope of bettering French society, Mauckingbird's reinvention embraces gay culture while striving for more depth within that culture.

Mauckingbird's choices of R+J and Hedda Gabler showcase the company's willingness to critique the forces outside the gay community as well. The two productions challenge the established ideas of male and female sexuality, respectively.

As a theatre artist coming out of Villanova University's graduate school, I find it is important to highlight how these artists are reshaping our theatrical community. I believe this article could help expose their work to a larger audience.

I would like to thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Devin Dippold

Query 3

Dear Ms. Rosenfield,

Have you ever wondered how the current recession affects the Philadelphia-area theatre community? The auto, credit, and housing industries as well as job markets across the country have been drastically impacted by the recession, a problem of which most Americans are well-aware. What effect has the recession had on our theatres and arts organizations? Michael Kaiser's recent Washington Post article "No Bailout for the Arts?" addressed this concern at a national level, but how is the ever-more-dismal economic situation affecting our local theatre community?

I'd like to offer you a 1500-word article titled "Philadelphia Theatres: Dark Days Ahead?" The article would discuss the prospective outlook of the Philadelphia theatre community through an examination of specific situations at a range of local theatre companies: small and large companies as well as long-established and recently created theatre companies would be consulted in order to provide a true picture of our diverse theatre community.

My article would describe the recent and projected changes in subscriber bases and gifts from corporate and individual donors. It would probe into the effect of reduced budgets on season selection and hiring practices at area theatres, as well detail creative solutions that individual theatres are investigating. Finally, the article would explore long-term projections for the theatre community as a whole, considering such questions as the number of theatres which expect to weather the storm of recession, and the number of years that it may take to regain previous subscriber numbers and theatre community diversity.

I believe that this article would prove engaging for your readers, and I look forward to receiving your response. If the article interests you, I can provide the piece within 15 days of your go-ahead. Thank you for your time!

Jessica Hinds-Bond

Query 4

Dear Editor,

Comedic improvised acting is a trend in theater that has only truly come into the spotlight in modern times. While some "improv" has managed to make it to the national scene (the most prominent of which being the incredibly popular "Who's line is it Anyway?" series), the greater majority of live improv is limited to professional troupes in urban areas. Subsequently, a great deal of theater enthusiasts who also live in the suburbs and the country are forced to miss out on this greater jewel of live performance. However, at the same time there are high school students banding together across the country--forming their own amateur improv troupes simply for the joy of it--and they are desperate for an audience.

I would love to present to you an article titled "Startling Amateur Theater: High School Improvisational Troupes Amaze." It would be a 1500 word piece on high school Improv Troupes in the Deleware valley area, how long they've been around, how often they perform, and how readers can find out if their local high schools have an improv troupe of their own.

First, the article would give a description of what improvised acting is. Improvised acting being the method of doing theater without a script--simply going on stage, taking a suggestion from the audience, and performing a scene based off of that. It would then discuss the perks of high school improv . Amateur improv performances are a great way to spend an evening. Since their members are invariably performing for their families, the shows are usually kept at a PG rating, so one can bring their whole family to the shows. Since the performers improvise for the simple joy of the art and desperately need publicity--the shows are usually free, giving theater enthusiasts a cheap way to enjoy theater performances in this terrible economy.

After this, several examples of prominent local troupes would be highlighted, such as the North Penn High School improv troupe in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Following this, it would give readers in other parts of the Deleware Valley tips on how to figure out of their own local high school has an improvisational troupe of it's own. Readers can do this via school website and google searches.

I am interested in doing this article because I am a graduate of a high school improv troupe myself. I know how to find other high school troupes, as my alma mater's group was in a constant search for fellow improvisers to work with. After high school, I taught informal improv classes for high school students and subsequently have an extensive improv background.

I hope I am right in thinking that this would be of some interest to your readers, and I wait eagerly for your reply. I can have a final draft of the manuscript delivered to you within a week of your decision.

Regards,

Peter Starr Northrop.

Tags:

This week I'm macking on: the brave, bold participants of Project Everyone's a Critic. These students will all be attending the Region II National Critics Institute of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival--and here, a monent of respect is due, because setting their sights on arts journalism at this particular historical/economic/technological/journalistic moment proves just how brave and bold they are. We may have more students signing up at the last minute, so stay tuned for the full cast credits. I will begin posting their writing on Wednesday, January 14 and hope to see you there.

Jessica Hinds-Bondis a second-year theatre M.A. student at Villanova University. While completing her undergraduate degree in theatre design at Auburn University in Alabama, she discovered a love for dramaturgy and theater research. She is the dramaturg for Cabaret, Villanova's final production of the 2008-2009 season. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Literary Committee for the past three years, reading and responding to plays submitted by students to the annual Playwriting Festival.

Devin Dippold graduated with honors from McKendree College, where he directed, wrote, and starred in Chosen Reject, a one man show based on the writings of Kurt Cobain. He is currently a second year student in the M.A. program at Villanova University, where he recently dramaturged their production of Le Dindon by Georges Feydeau. He also stage managed last season's production of The Illusion. Acting credits include Gus in The Dumb Waiter, Tartuffe in Tartuffe: Born Again, and Ed in Defying Gravity. In his spare time, Devin plays guitar and is a martial arts instructor.

Shawn Arnold loves theater and love to analyze it. He is a Central Pennsylvania resident from Philipsburg. Shawn is currently attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a double major in both the BFA acting and secondary education social studies programs. In addition to his interest in theater, Shawn is also a lover of history and all things about the past. Shawn has also taken an active step to foster theater in his home town. He has been heavily involved in the creation of both a community and youth theater program in the area.

Peter Starr Northrop is a Memphis-born, Pennsylvania-based writer with poor fashion sense and an awkward sense of humor to match. He is currently a Sophomore at Elizabethtown College, where he is slowly dragging out a double-major in English and theater. There, he divides his time between working as a writer and editor for the school newspaper--The Etownian, pretending to run the newly founded sketch comedy group Sketch-E's writing department, and attending the occasional class. Peter's theater background is limited to only three years spent in a high-school improv troupe, having minor roles in a few college mainstage and one-act productions, and writing/performing for his aforementioned sketch comedy group. His other varying hobbies include cooking, hiking and most of all, discovering all sorts of things about the crazy world in which we live.

Justin Fitzpatrick is a freshman theatre major at Albright College. He avidly participates in theater in many ways such as performing, directing, choreographing, and vocal coaching. His passion lies with musicals. Past shows on which he has worked include: On Broadway: A Scene Study (Link Larkin), Footloose (Garvin), Oklahoma! (Will Parker), Bye, Bye Birdie (Co-Director), The Secret Garden (Lt. Wright), The Sound of Music (Rolf), Seussical: The Musical (Horton the Elephant/Vocal Coach), The Pirates of Penzance (Co-Director/Vocal Coach/Choreographer), High School Musical (Mongo), You Are Here* (Jimmie), Love's Labour's Lost (Forester/Mercade). Recently, Justin realized that he has a natural habit of critiquing every type of performance he sees, and has decided that being a part of the National Critics Institute at the KCACTF would be a beneficial experience.

Tammy Bateman is a junior at Elizabethtown College. A major in both Business Administration and Theatre Performance, Tammy enjoys all aspects of the theater world. She has been performing for the last seven years and served as a critic for the Greater Philadelphia Cappies program at Ridley High School. At Elizabethtown she currently serves as Vice President for the drama club, Sock and Buskin, and manages the Tempest Theatre Box Office. In her spare time she can be seen performing with the college's all-female a capella group, Melica. She is very excited to be a part of the National Critics Institute and competing as an Irene Ryan Nominee for Region II at this year's festival.

This week I'm hating on: The fact that not a month after Dance Dance Revolution closed, the Ohio Theatre--which housed it--is closing too. Not only that, as I'm getting ready to work on a piece about new play development, one of the plays I'm covering, Christina Ham's After Adam, was cut from Luna Stage's roster because of the theater's "survival" issues. Though Broadway's darkened doors get all the major press, I'm guessing that in the end, they'll be okay. The real theatrical victims of this economic iceberg are houses willing to take chances on exciting, experimental and ultimately galvanizing new work, because they're so much more vulnerable and once they're gone, their founder's often very particular aesthetic goes with them.

The good news? Hey, how about this: Even though these days newspapers are less about "all the news that's fit to print" and more about "whatever print still fits," the Inquirer is mulling over adding three new theaters to our reviewing circuit. Proof that at a time when theater critics are an endangered species, we're needed more than ever.